Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zeus was staring at Hestia’s fire at Mount Olympus, where he watches his daughter running for her life, he knew that she was going to make it to camp at some point but it might take a while before she does, his worry got to him for the first time since the prophecy had been told and being exposed for what he’s done.
Hermes appeared in the throne room, in a mortal size form, he walked over to his father as well turning into the 12-foot-tall Godly form.

“You wanted to see me?”
Zeus looked up at him, the disappointed look on his face had said it all, “yes, I did” he stood up from his throne, Hermes wanted to look at what the image was in the fire, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to annoy Zeus, especially when it’s a stormy night like tonight.

“I have a confession to make, and you are the first one to know” Zeus closed his eyes, he didn’t want to see the funny look on Hermes’ face when he tells him, “You already know that I have a daughter”
“Which one?”
Lighting appeared next to Hermes trying to lighten the mood with comedy during a serious discussion, this is why Zeus never relies on him. “The demigod, her name is Thalia”
He watched as Hermes patted off the soot from his pants, then stopped midway, the man’s eyes were wide open, unbenounced by what was said, clearly, Hermes was hearing wrong the Gods are never allowed to talk about their mortal children, it was one of the rules. From his pocket, George and Martha were muffled off as Zeus had required in case word got around by the two snakes.

Hermes felt ashamed of Zeus, (not that it would matter) he already had enough on his plate, his oldest demigod son had run away from home and it guilted the God of messages to not get involved to bring his son back home or at least the camp.

“B-but what about the prophecy? You, Poseidon, and Hades-“
“Does it matter? I’m ashamed myself for what I did, but it doesn’t matter now” Zeus glanced back at the fire, nothing appeared in it, he placed his hands behind his back, “Hades knows and has been out to kill her for a few years now” Hermes stayed quiet, “and this is why I need you to come in and help me” he flicked his hand where a white envelope appeared, “son, I need you to deliver a message to him, tell him I have a proposition”
“what’s in it for me, you know I can’t just walk down there and hand it to him-“

Zeus whipped his head right over to see him as if Hermes wanted another shock of lightning to hit him. Hermes stumbled back afraid of that look Zeus makes, “assuming you are the God of Messages, thought it was your job to deliver them without complaint, but seeing that face you have on makes me think that you have worries about someone right now… is it him”

In the fire, appeared the image of a small child sleeping under a bench in a park, Hermes shuttered seeing his son, Luke Castallen. Shivering in the cold as he slept. A tear falls from Hermes’ eye, “will she be the one to–you know” he wipes his face, Zeus smile grew, “that’s where the proposition comes in place”

A plan was coming into the God’s head, something that can benefit both of them, it crossed his mind knowing that these two demigods will cross paths one day.

Chapter Text

If you were to tell me 24 hours ago that a group of people was going to burst the door out of my cell in the middle of the night, throw me into a van and take me to a camp in Long Island New York where I would have to be trained to fight off monsters because I’m a Greek demigod. Then you’ll probably witness me putting my self-defense moves to good use and punching you right in the face.

Sadly that’s what actually happened, not the punching part.

Let's go to the beginning of this disaster; I woke up this morning with the usual routine in mind, hearing the jingle of keys being hit on the door to my cell, the indication of my wake-up.
Today was Wednesday of the second week of the month, not that I was counting on it, but the state requires that all inmates who were in solitary confinement (me) should have one day out of their solitude and have communication to prevent them from going insane.
Now you might think that this is stupid but coming from someone like me who wasn’t expecting this type of privilege to be given back to her, after the many fights I never started but always get blamed on. Would still be sane, how? You tell me, I have the same question.

I mostly never make it past 5 hours before being put right back in the cell with no dinner, but I knew today felt different like there was something odd, probably because it’s also visitation day for the other inmates and I’d be having the entire room to myself. “Come on, you know the drill” Officer Bennet says as he taps the handcuffs onto the metal of the door then slides out the tiny handle door where I needed to stick my hands out, I was already on the floor doing some pushups so it was easy for me to just do so, remembering to not flip him off like the other night.
Officer Bennet took pity on me for that, he was a newbie working at ‘Chicago’s Juvenile Maximum Security Prison for Troubled Girls’ for a little over a month and was the only Guard who had ever given me an extra dessert last night before his shift ended. Maybe it was out of the kindness of his cold heart that every guard needs to have in order to work here but I knew he meant well. Once when the lead prison guard came to the solitary center to introduce Bennet to the only cell that was locked (Me) he didn’t sound scared at all when Officer Mustache spoke about me, “Over here is our most dangerous inmate, Prisoner number 316, she is to be kept in here at all costs”
“Fun” I heard Bennet say in a sarcastic voice, that’s when I knew he would be a good egg.

He took me upstairs where the day room was located, in all my 3 years of being here I’ve only ever been on the west wing of the Prison, the rest of the place from what I’ve heard other inmates say about the other side is where the courtyard was located, I have never seen it, even during the first week when I arrived, I shared a cell with 3 other girls who were the reason I ended up being put in a single cell before being moved to the Solitary Confinement, where I stayed there from now on.

Officer Mustache, (not her real name but she’s a 5’1 woman with crow eyes and a thick peach fuzz on her upper lip) was staring at me in disgust as though she was ready to send me back downstairs for breathing the same air as her. “Listen here Evans, this is a Privilege, any funny business, and you are going straight back into your cell with no dinner, got it!” She says in her grouchy voice, then looked at Officer Bennet who looked even more terrified of her, like she too was ready to give him that same warning.
I nod at her, knowing to not speak at all if I’m here, something always happens if I say anything. She hands me the remote once I took a seat, which was a little difficult to do since the handcuffs not only go to my wrist but also down to my ankles and waist, I flicked the tv on to the Spanish channel where the children show of a boy who lives in a barrel was on, I didn’t seem to understand it much but something about their comedy makes me feel warm inside.
“Officer Harf, could you please come to the visitation hall, we have a code green,” someone says on the intercom, the voice of the person sounded so smooth as it rang through my ears, heck it almost made me want to go and help with whatever Code Green was. Officer Mustache groans and stomps out of the day room, leaving only me and Officer Bennet who was standing by the doorway whistling and tapping on the wall with his fingers. I ignored that and purposely turned up the volume when the jingle of a commercial was coming up.
An hour later the room was filled with inmates all coming in one by one as time went on.

The remote was already gone from my hands long ago when Tammi Richards came in all angry over something that happened during the visit from her mother, she snatched the remote from me and turned the channel to some Disney movie on the VHR. By the time all the girls came back, the movie Bambi was rewinding so many times that I had to watch poor Bambi’s mother die over and over again.
One girl was passed out on the floor sleeping while the rest were making noises and throwing things at one another. ‘Lucky’ I thought seeing that girl being unbothered, if I were to fall asleep in front of the girls then they’d try to draw on my face, considering the fact that there are no markers available, the girls always found a way to use whatever they can.

I would ask Officer Bennet or the other newbie Officer Elmers if perhaps one of them could take me back to my cell early and I could finish that origami paper frog that I left on my desk. Though sadly they were the only ones in charge to keep an eye on everyone here.

When lunchtime rolled around, I noticed that Officer Mustache had returned, she had much more of a scowl than she normally did, when she watched me being taken to sit at my table at the far end of the room where I could see Tammi and her group of prison mates all turning over to look at me and see Officer Elmers unlocked one of my cuffs then clips it onto the table.

I could feel their smirks burning into me as I’m given my tray, opting whether I should eat the mystery meat special, first, or the vegetables because my pudding cup was snatched away before I even looked at it. I turned back to see both the newbie Officers leaving the cafeteria. ‘No why!’ I was now left with Officer Mustache to keep an eye on me while the other three guards were watching everyone else except for Tammi and her group.

‘Don’t look at them, just finish this food and you could then ask to go back to your cell’ I told myself picking up my spork so I could just get this over with. I scooped up the mushed peas and went to open my mouth when suddenly a splash of cold milk hit me right in the face. Oh, come on.
“Score!” Yelena Ramirez shouts high-fiving the rest of her friends, ‘don’t react’ I tried to tell myself in my head, picking up the milk carton from my tray, my food was now covered in milk. Fuck.
I glance over at Mustache who hasn’t batted an eye at the situation like it was a normal day here, “I need a new tray” I tell her in my calm tone which includes my nails digging into the metal of the table. “There isn’t any, eat”
“But it’s coved in milk”
“Eat it!” She shouts grabbing my head and slamming it down to the tray, I never knew she had such force until I felt multiple hands grabbing me just when Mustache was about to slam my head again with enough force to make me gain more of a concussion. I opened my eyes and saw not just Officer Mustache there with glowing yellow eyes and leathery skin but so were Yelena, Tammi, and two other inmates in a monstrous forms.
I screamed and tried to fight back with my free hand as the other was still cuffed to the table. “Your weak Evans! You must die!” Tammi’s voice sounded demonic, not the high-pitched sound she normally had. Her hand reached to my face where I could see her nails were like black claws. I reached for the spork and tried to jamb it into her eye, feeling a familiar burn of anger starting to build up inside me “LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screamed.

I found myself on the floor, scratching her face with my nails while hitting off the other monster–like inmates who were approaching.
“Evans!” I hear Officer Bennet saying as two arms grabbed me off the floor, Tammi wasn’t a monster with leathery skin anymore but just her regular self with blonde hair and green eyes, she was crying and bleeding everywhere, “that girl is fucken crazy! She broke my nose!” Tammi yells giving me a glare at me.
Her voice was back to normal, at which I thought was imagining things again, No that can’t be right.
“Come on, back to your cell,” Offer Bennet says as he singles handily carried me out of the cafeteria with Elmers following behind to help with the doors, I should’ve been screaming and kicking since I hate being touched that way, but I was too shocked by seeing how much strength Officer Bennet has even though he’s a short scrawny guy and I’m not the description of a basic small petite girl that can easily be carried away.

“You have to believe me, they’re monsters, I saw them” I tried telling them “sure they were Evans” Officer Elmers says “No I’m serious-“ I stopped mid-sentence when I felt my body being slammed onto the wall, “Listen here, we know what you saw, we believe you but you have to keep quiet”
“What-“ I was interrupted again by Elmers putting his hand on my mouth to shush me as another group of guards walked by, he had a weird scent of pinewood and tomato sauce. I tried to not bite his hand off for doing that to me but he finally let go. I kept quiet on my way back to my cell, I hadn’t realized how cold it got until Officer Bennet opened the entry door, both of my ankle cuffs were broken apart, what I couldn’t get in my head, but how did I manage to do that just like the cuff on my wrist being ripped out of the table?

I wanted to ask again what Officer Elmers meant by needing to keep quiet, certainly, I was hallucinating from the concussion or the faint taste of the mystery meat with the mix of dried blood that was in my mouth had suddenly got me imagining this, but the sound of the door to my cell shutting made it clear that it wasn’t, I was now back to what I knew to be at least my reality in these 4 walls.
Surely the guards were messing with me like how they mess with the inmates, always sayings that if they do their chores correctly then they’ll have an extra few minutes of TV time, or hot showers first. Of course, there was that extra dessert I was given the other night but that might now mean anything.

Part of me wanted to rethink all the questions I had building up in my head but what good would that make? Instead, I spent the rest of the day processing the new punishment I’ll be getting after the scene I caused. Probably just the same treatment, No dinner or shower tonight, which was fine, I’ll just use the tiny sink in my cell.
I went on to do what I normally would right before going to bed, finishing my paper frog and some exercises, squats, handstands, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and another round of pushups. My father once told me “if you are bored, do something about it” so I am.

There are very few memories I could remember of him, we would travel all around the country together in his motorcycle with the biker gang, I missed the times when we would eat cheeseburgers and drink cherry-flavored Slurpees, he would always get the blue one and we would race to see who could get a brain freeze first. Oh, how I miss the feeling of real sunlight warming me when we took our trips to the beach. That were only the small memories I regained when I went to sleep.

If only I knew what got me here in the first place.

A sound was coming near like footsteps, whispering, and then a loud Clunk, and then BOOM! My door was swung open. I didn’t have time to process it when I awoke, the ringing in my ears was bad enough and the smoke only made it worse, I coughed from the smell of melted metal while trying to see what just happened. There were two figures coming in, it was hard to tell since the room was pitched black even though there are usually 3 mid lights in the halls during lights out, they look to be arguing but stopped when I screamed–or at least tried to scream– giving that I couldn’t hear myself, I threw my pillow at them then reached from under my bed to grab the makeshift knife I made out of my own toothbrush, “stay back!” I shout finally hearing my voice, afraid of what these people might do to me.
“Calm down, we are here to help you,” the first figure said, her voice sounding female and soft, she flicked on a flashlight, and I could see now that it was a girl somewhere in her early twenties, she had brown hair breaded around. Her voice felt safe which I found strange but I put my weapon down, still holding it near me, “W-who are you?”
“Relax, We’re here to rescue you, do you have a name?” She spoke in that soft voice, I thought for a second deciding whether to trust her or not but I opened my mouth to speak, not stuttering this time “I go by Prim, Prim Evans.”

“Nice to meet you, Prim, come with us,” the girl says taking my pillowcase and shoving everything from my desk into it. I obeyed what she said and put my shoes on, the other person who I couldn’t see was still standing by the door keeping an eye out.
“Coast is clear, come on we don’t have much time” the voice was male, he motioned for us to follow him, the girl grabbed me by the arm, at which I wanted to flinch and jerk away from her, but she quickly pulled me to run out the halls.
‘I’m going to be in so much trouble’ I thought to myself, I mean it’s true, this only happens in the movies I rarely watch, I couldn’t possibly be dreaming about two people breaking me out of here, this place has maximum security.

“Hurry this way!” the boy whisper shouts making a run for it past the west wing hall, all the lights were turned off, making the only light around come from the window where the moon was. We made it out a large red door where as if on cue, alarm bells were being ranged, “Dam it Grover!” the girl cusses, gripping my arm even more tightly as we ran. Now I should’ve punched her for the harsh gesture she did but I didn’t, why?
Because my focus was mostly on breathing in the fresh air filling my lungs as we made our way outside the courtyard, It had been so long, too long, I’d breathed in such wide air, the moon was full and barely any stars were out but I didn’t care, I was finally outside.
“Leo hurry!” the girl said to the boy as we got to the fence, he took out–what looked like– a chainsaw that started to glow red as if it was hot. From where did he pull that thing, I don’t know.
Just then another loud noise came from the Prison, two more figures came running after us, from the light the pillars around the courtyard, began to shine over for a second I could tell that Officer Elmer and Bennet were after us. The girl tugged my arm again and pulled me through the small section of the broken fence, before I could say anything, the metal sliced through my shoulder as I was crawling out. Despite being a tall girl, I was lucky to have been able to make it out easily.

“Come on, this way!” the guy (assuming his name was Leo) says opening the back of the van’s door, another girl with blonde hair turned from the driver seat and started yelling for the two of them to hurry, “they're on their way!” The girl calls out pushing me to sit down on the floor of the van, the small light from the inside of the van kind of showed me a clearer vision of who were these people. “Drive, Drive!” someone was calling from outside of the car, and instantly the blonde girl started to drive off, the doors of the van were still open, and the sight of a boy, possibly the same age as the rest of these people, was also running behind.
A squawking sound came from out there and the guy–running after the van–had taken out something that looked small then it changed into a sword, “what the–” I tried to cuss but the girl clasped a hand to my mouth, what is it with people putting their hands in my mouth!?
I instead watched what was happening. A thud hit the roof of the car, making its weight heavy and causing the blonde girl to swerve the van around, this only felt safe to do in a Fast and Furious movie and not in real life, cause whatever supplies these people had in the van, began to fall on top of my head and one duffel bag had something sharp that cut my face which made me yelp in pain and scream as the driver girl made another swerve.
“Go to sleep,” The girl says, using that same direct voice once more, “what–” “go to sleep, you're very tired” my eyes began to feel heavy, slowly I could only see small scenes in my vision trying to fight off the sleep that was starting to take over.

For one, the girl took out a knife thing that was covered in blood from my leg, I didn’t comprehend that it stabbed me but it must’ve fallen from the duffle bag as well, I could feel the girl wrap something to stop the bleeding.
The second sight was that Leo guy, using another weapon to shoot fire at the creature that was on top of the roof. The third was the other boy with the sword who finally made it inside the van, he was covered in some sort of gold dust but he looked more worried about who was coming behind him, the guy kept shouting for the other person to take his hand but the sleeping was winning the mind that lost me into a deep slumber.
Only very few times I would hear voices here and there.
“You put her to sleep!”
“She wouldn’t stop screaming, what was I supposed to do? Punch her”
“No, guys stop it she’s been through enough already”
“So now what do we do?”
“We can rest in Indiana, maybe IM for help”
“Good idea, let my moms cuss me out for breaking a girl out of Prison again”
“Again?”
“Ogygia was a Prison”
“Nothing compared to this”

Chapter Text

Ok, you might be wondering what did I do to get sentenced to Prison. To tell you the truth I don’t know. I know, I know, this sounds stupid but that’s what happened, I woke up one day in a jail cell with no memory of who I was, it was right after my hearing in court, and was sent to the Juvenile prison in Chicago. Over the next few months and years, I regain some memory of my childhood, some, I remember having a Dad, Maxton Evans, but no recollection of a Mother in the picture, it was just him and I.

Now here’s where things get interesting about that.
I woke up to the smell of a warm breakfast, my first thought was that I must’ve died in my sleep, the smell of toast and eggs was something you’d never wake up to at the Juvenile, I did, however, feel warm wherever I was but the first thing I saw when opening my eyes wasn’t my father, rather it was the blonde girl holding a plate of food and fanning the smell of it to my face. Soon enough the memories of last night came floating back to into my head, the two people breaking me out of my cell, the alarms, the fight I had with Officer Mustache, and the two inmates earlier that day, it all came back.
“You’re awake!” the girl says putting the plate aside, as she helped me up from the bed, I didn’t need help, there was no pain anywhere, although the cut on my arm and the knife to the leg must’ve hurt.
I looked down and noticed that I was still in my Orange uniform, a hole was formed with dried blood, right where the other girl had taken out the knife from.

“You healed pretty well,” the blonde girl says handing me a small cup, I took a sip, thinking it was water, but then quickly looked at it, and another memory crossed my mind; It tasted like the chocolate milkshakes my dad and I would get at Benjis Dinner whenever we visited Tampa Flordia, but the drink was in some weird gold liquid form and looked nothing like a chocolate milkshake.
“What is this?” I asked, hoping, this girl wouldn’t also put her hand in my mouth, “Nectar, it’s a healing drink that helps with injuries, it is surprising you managed to heal better than the rest of my friends” she chuckles, I didn’t speak but quietly drank the Nectar, savoring every sip. I looked around my surroundings, seeing that it was a hospital but also a very cozy place.
“Who are you? What happened last night?” I finally spoke after finishing the drink, wishing that there was more. “My name is Calypso, I would tell you what happened but-” she looked over at the doorway where no one was, “you’ll have to wait until they get here, I won’t be able to explain much as it is” she took the plate of food and handed it to me with a fork, “eat up, I’ll be right back” she then walked out to door.

The food was delicious, not like the mystery meat and soggy vegetables from the Juvenile but rather fresh, as if it was grown in someone’s backyard garden. Calypso came back with a clean towel and pointed to where the showers were and told me to take all the time I needed. It had been so long since I had a long hot shower, so I definitely took my time and enjoyed finally washing my hair with shampoo and conditioner that didn’t smell like Mayonaise, and using soap that wasn’t the size of a penny.
The Jumpsuit I had was suddenly now washed and the hole was patched up, it had a scent of fresh flowers, Calypso must’ve washed and dried them, a pair of blue converse and socks were on the side of the sink counter, and my old shoes weren’t anywhere in sight, I should be bothered by it, they were old musty crocs but still, in prison, you don’t get many things and whatever you own is a privilege.

Wait, I’m not in Prison anymore. I stumbled a bit trying to put on the jumpsuit, feeling how warm they were, I looked back at myself in the full-length mirror. It was the first time I’d seen myself at full, clearly almost unrecognizable, the color of my skin was still bright even though I haven’t seen sunlight for the past 3 years, I thought for sure I’d be as pale as the other inmates, I was also expecting a scar on my face from the knife, but no, it’s not there, my hair grew, no longer the shoulder length it once was, I lost weight, not the good kind.
I turned to see how my ribs were starting to show, the bones on my back, the sight of that almost made me gasp, I had a weird mark on the middle part of my spine, was that there before?

A knock came through the door, “Just a second” I say as I quickly dress, this time stumbling to the floor when putting on the new shoes, and low and behold they fit.

When I came out of the bathroom, the girl with the sweet voice was there, “We couldn’t find any clean clothes that were your size but it’s a good thing the shoes fit you well, come on, I’ll take you downstairs” she waved her hand so that I could follow, I did, “I’m Piper, by the way, Piper McLean.”
Wherever I was, I didn’t seem to question why were there so many halls and rooms, maybe later I could ask about that. We made it to a kitchen where two older women were cooking something that smelled delicious. On the other side sat three guys and another girl sitting next to Calypso, they looked up at me in please until the tall one with dark hair, stood up and pointed at my shoes, “are those my shoes?” he asked Calypso, he didn’t sound annoyed but was shocked, “yes, they’re the only ones I could find that looked about her size.”
Now I feel embarrassed, I’m 5’11 in height and my feet were the same size as the 6ft tall boy who was cute, and I was wearing his shoes, great.
I remember how my father would always say that being tall was a good thing and that I still have a whole lot more growing to do, which was true, two years ago the Prison doctor told me my height was 5’9.

“Prim, this is Percy, Leo, Grover, and Lou Ellen, you already know Calypso” Piper introduced, I waved at them shyly. The other girl, Lou Ellen, gave me a seat next to them. I thanked her and then looked up to see them all staring directly at me. Why me!
“Could I please be explained about what happened last night?” I folded my hands together hoping for the answer now. “Sure–um well-” the guy with dark hair, Percy, said trying to find a way to explain it. All of a sudden he’s not looking too cute anymore.
“Do you know anything about, Greek Mythology?”
I thought for a second, remembering the stories I was told about it, probably from my Dad. “Some of it? Why?” the other guy who must be Grover, was starting to chew on something metal before Leo then snatched it away from him. That Leo guy, he for some reason looked familiar but I can’t tell from where?

“So I’m sure you're aware of Greek gods who have children with mortal humans, they’re called Demigods, and sometimes these Demigods are endangered, and they need to go to this special place called Camp Halfblood–”
“Wait are you telling me a story? Or am I getting answers as to why I’m here?” I had to interrupt, impatient to be listening to this, “I’m getting their hold on” Percy sighed, I could sense that he was nervous over something but it wasn’t about him explaining. Usually, I'd see this on the inmates when they’re trying to make up an excuse to the guards.
“A couple of months back my friend Grover here and I” Percy points over to Grover, “were passing by Chicago on our way back to Long Island, New York, then– maybe you should tell her” he looked over at his friend who nodded, “We were passing by to see the Mirrored Bean, and I happened to have….smelled the demigod scent most of you carry” he looked around the group, Did this guy just say that I smelled?
“And yours happened to be a very strong one, so I asked around and I happened to find this…” he pulled out a red yarn bracelet with 3 large blue beads wrapped around it, My heart dropped, and my eyes widen as I snatched it from Grover’s hand, I don’t know why but the bracelet must’ve meant something to make me react this way.

“w-where did you-” I tried to hold back her tears, Grover continued, “I found it being worn on this woman, turns out her boyfriend happens to be a policeman who works at the Chicago police department, apparently he gave it to her as their anniversary gift, but he must’ve stolen it from your belongings while you were in prison-” “That bitch” I muttered, again I’m not sure why this bracelet feels so sentimental to me.

“Anyways we did some digging to try and locate where you were. Percy had just graduated from New Rome University as a Demigod Social Worker. So we came up with an idea and asked for some help on this mission, with whoever wanted to volunteer” he motions to everyone else at the table “to break you out.” I waited for him to keep going but he didn’t.
“that’s it?”
“yeah”
I stood up, “That doesn’t explain anything! What does this have to do with Greek Mythology? What were those things chasing us!? What happened to Officer Bennet and Elmer!? Where am I!? Are the police coming after us!? After me!? And who are they!?” I point to the old ladies in the kitchen, “And Why do you look familiar!?” I then turn to the Leo guy who looked shocked but then groans, tilting his head back, “Oh please don’t let this be another Sammy issue”
“Who's Sammy?”
“Never mind” he shakes his head, “Chica, I just met you, so I’m not sure what you mean” I sat back on the chair, “No me llamas chica” on the inside, I was just as surprised as them all looking at me speak Spanish all of a sudden. Not sure how I knew the language but I don’t have enough memories to defend myself about that.
Piper put her hand on my arm again but it didn’t help with answering a billion questions I had, nor did it make me comfortable that she keeps doing that.

Percy kept glancing at his watch and then out the glass windows where the sun was still shining bright outside. It didn’t click for me to notice that I was looking at the outside view of a city, nor the sunlight warming my face.
“This is a Waystation in Indiana, a safe house for all Hunters and Demigod travelers to stay at, these are our hosts Jo and Emmi, they live here” the two old ladies smiled up at me while setting up the table for everyone to eat, “Leo help us with the bread would you” the lady in overalls–who might be Jo–says holding up a basket of– what looked like–cheese bread but…red?
“You could all explain to her more while eating, come on now” the second lady, Emmi, said. We all sat down to eat while Piper did her best to explain the rest of what the boys were horrible at mentioning to me.

“So there’s a camp for Demigods like you guys–And me? That will train me to fight off, different types of Monsters like the Empanadas, Officer Harf, and the inmates were?” I took a bite from the cheese bread, trying to get everything that I was told, to process into my head, “Empusas, but yes” Grover nods.
“I-I just don’t understand?”
“You will once your Godly parent claims you” Lou Ellen brings up finishing her bowl of broccoli cream soup, “Godly parent? Claim?”
“The mother or father you’ve never met” Percy brings up also finishing up his soup. My Dad couldn’t have been a God, let alone Greek, heck he wasn’t even Greek, I can’t recall ever having a mother, most of the memories that came back were of my father mostly, I don’t know if he ever mentioned her or perhaps the idea that was wrapped in my head was that she died when I was a baby.
I shake my head “That can’t be” I looked around to see if she was correct “I remember my dad but my mother died when I was little” everyone went silent, Percy said something that I couldn’t hear.
“Um well, maybe she probably didn’t, you see, sometimes Gods or Goddess aren’t often in their demigod children's lives, your dad raised you didn’t he?” Percy sounded as though he was scared to be corrected, “I have very few memories of him, yeah” I nod, Grover for some reason bleeped like a sheep, then shoved a spoon into his mouth, “why?”

“N-nothing, we’ll just have to see once you get there” Calypso assured, I looked at her and suddenly am brought to the storytelling of Odysseus and the mention of a girl stuck on an island, was coming into my mind, not mention that someone had said the word Ogygia, earlier, which was the name of the island.

“Okay, but what about Officer Bennet and Elmer surely they had to inform the authorities that I'm missing?” I mentioned, Piper looks over at Lou Ellen, to which I do the same and watched as she snaps her fingers to where Grover and Percy were, they turned into security guards.
My jaw drops, and now I’m certain to believe them all.
“Wha-how-wh-y-you” more stutters came ahead, It made sense, yes, but I’m scared now.
“No, No, what if you guys are wrong about me being a demigod? What if I was mistaken by someone else at the Juvenile who was also a Demigod?” I hesitated, panicked by their weird looks, “Do you remember the muffin I gave you as an extra dessert?” Officer Bennet–I mean, Percy said, still in guards form, I nod silently, but Lou Ellen re-snaps her fingers and it was back to just the two guys. “That was actually an Ambrosia muffin, and you were the only one who didn’t break into hives when you ate it”
Now I feel stupid.

I managed to not stutter my words this time when helping clear out the table, Lou Ellen went on to explain more about what kind of magic she could do, “I can do some herbal magic, and mess around some mist”
“Mist?”
“Magic veil that keeps mortals from seeing the real deal, for example, the Prison won’t suspect us breaking you out”
“Then what would they see?” I asked suspiciously at the thought of suddenly becoming a bigger issue to the state, maybe the whole country. “for all they’ll think you were released and let go from the county” she says it like it was simple, I mean it is magic but what would happen if they find out I wasn’t released?
“It was actually a Juvenile Prison–”
“same thing” Piper chimes into the conversation, “Leo and I were in a wilderness school for troubled teens before we got claimed, our friend Jason-” she looked down at the floor at the mention of this Jason guy but I didn’t want her to bring it up if she felt like it wasn’t worth it. “What Piper is trying to say is that anything for troubled youth is considered a prison, you might as well call it that if you want” Leo brings up as he finishes putting the clean dishes away. “I know I’ve been there and done that” Calypso chuckles handing him more plates.

I hadn’t been aware of how fast Calypso was at cleaning dishes, then I notice that she wasn’t even doing the dishes but rather waving her hands around, where floating utensils were being given to Leo to put away, “Gracias” he tells her putting the last plate into the cabinet, then giving her a peck on the cheek.
“Wait so you happen to be the real Calypso from the island–”
“Ogygia, Yep”
Great now had even more questions to ask but seeing how in love they were, I decided not to, even though my mind is still not clearing up with the whole Leo guy.

Not to mention that I still have no recollection of my life before the prison, “What can you tell me about the camp?” I asked Piper, switching the conversation, but Percy came back running into the kitchen, “they’re here, everyone saddles it up!” he then grabs his bookbag that had been by the chair and started running upstairs.
“Who’s here?” the sudden feeling of the polices came into my mind, what if they were coming to find me and drag me back to prison? This time I might go to an adult one where I’ll have to wear a tracking monitor.
“Our ride, common” Piper grabbed my hand to guide me upstairs where a garden was, along with two large chariots being pulled by winged horses.

Chapter Text

Percy did mention his girlfriend Annabeth during lunch, she happens to be the daughter of the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, and had graduated as an architect. This all sounded simple, but I didn’t expect this girl to jump off the chariot, run up to Percy, and repeatedly punch him in the chest as he held her dearly in his arms.
“You could’ve gotten yourself killed, all of you!” she then turned to see me but had to tilt her head up to see better.
“You must be the newbie, I’m Annabeth Chase” Annabeth had a tone of stunned yet when she saw what I was wearing, her focus went back to Percy where she then lashed him out over what they were thinking and then looked at Grover who quickly ran to hide behind Percy.
He made me finally notice how his bottom half is an animal, like the Narnia movie I saw back in the Juveniles T.V room, well that explains the bleeping.

A smaller girl with mid-length brown hair who looked around 10 or 11, was also on another chariot, she got down to help everyone get their things onto it, “Mom! Mama!” she waves at Jo and Emmi then runs up to hug them, I decided to not question that, there was no judgment for loving who you love. What did come to my attention were the horses that were just right there, whining for us to get on so they could go now.
I was once told to never approach an animal unless you offer it something but if it approaches you then you best understand what it wants. If only I had something to offer them then yes I would pet the winged horses, they had a name for their mythical self but I can’t seem to remember it, Peggy? Pegasus? Pegasi?

Lou Ellen hands me my pillowcase that Piper packed during the escape, I didn’t realize the pillowcase was actually the only belonging I now had, it wasn’t like it was a problem right now, I had felt used to being a minimalist like I said about my old crocs being the only possession I have. My old stuff was mostly on a backpack and never had much, to begin with when my Dad and I traveled.
I thanked her and then looked at the red yarn bracelet that was still in my hands, I could’ve put it on my wrist, but it had to be tied in a certain way that I didn’t have the patience for so instead I put it with the rest of my things in the pillow, then went over to one of the chariots, Preferably the one that the Annabeth girl had been on.
Leo and Calypso were going to ride with us while Grover, Lou Ellen, Piper, and the smaller girl would be on the other one.

I didn’t say anything for the entire ride, mostly because I’m too stunned to speak, admiring the view of the cities and landscapes that we were passing by, seeing the blue sky for the first time with its clouds and the beautiful sun-warming my skin. Calypso had to grab me by the waist a couple of times because I kept almost falling off the Chariot after wanting to take a closer look down below, but I can’t help it. This might be the closest thing I’ll get from flying on a plane. A piece of winged horse feather flew on my face and before I decided to throw it into the wind I placed it in my pillowcase.
“Everyone hold on!” Annabeth shouts holding onto the reins, the next thing I knew, was the chariot speeding and me screaming, then not screaming cause the air had dried up my vocal cords. A sudden blur took over my vision, then cleared up again where I saw a completely different place, Heaven? Probably not.

I heard one of the Pegasus whining again then Percy spoke back to them, “hold it back in!” he tells them, I was confused about what he meant by that, “Annabeth I don’t think Black-Jack and ButterScotch could carry us much longer!” He says helping her with the reins and guiding the horses down to the lake, “What are you doing!” Annabeth tried to pull back the rope but instantly the chariot dropped us all down into the water.
Yet we didn’t hit the lake, I was expecting a loud splash, even holding my breath, but instead, the water harden and bounced, like a water balloon, I looked over at Leo and Calypso who were helping Annabeth cut the horses from their harnesses, Percy had his hands spread out to control the water, I was stunned by how he was doing this. Then he began to move the barrier around the lake to move us close to the shore, whereby the distance were a few other kids wearing Orange t-shirts, some looked too young and others were the same age as me, the oldest looked about 25 years old.

Okay, I don’t know what to feel about this, all eyes were on us so at least it wasn’t given the most attention to me, but boy did I hate it when that happened, that brought me back to the first day at the Juvenile. Although I’m probably getting weird stares, considering my Prison uniform is a much brighter orange than theirs.

A blonde boy came up to us once we got to the docks, the pegasus, (yes the memory came clear) have already flown off to wherever they were going. By the other side the second chariot with Piper, Grover, Lou Ellen, and the small girl, was already parked and running up toward us to help, but to my luck, no one was hurt. “Kayla go get Chiron!” the blonde boy calls out to the girl with green tips on her hair, she ran off just as the guy went to help me up to the dock, “are you guys all right? What happened?” “Pegasi’ complications” Annabeth started pulling her bag over her shoulder which had me notice that the pillowcase wasn’t in my hands anymore and I started to panic, looking around, “No, No!” my breathing began to quicken, as I patted around my jumpsuit, but why would I do that since there are no pockets. Son of a bitch.
In a panic, I had thrown myself back into the lake, stupidly thinking that I only knew doggy paddles.

“Whoa–Whoa! Get back here” Percy jumped in to bring me back up but I kept trying to push him aside so I could try to find my stuff. “I need to find it, I need to find it!” I could feel that Percy had manipulated the water to push us both back onto the dock, “My stuff! my stuff was in that pillowcase!” and now my breathing got, even more, heavier trying to jump back but Percy had more strength and held me, I didn’t even seem to care that they were both dried already. He has water powers and I don’t care.

“Calm down” Piper’s sweet words were now controlling me once again, I slowly let go of Percy’s grip, “you need to breathe okay, Percy will go find it, don’t worry” Piper looked over at him who then shrugged and jumped back into the lake, she placed her hand on my arm again, and soon I did start to feel calm, but the panic was still there, think of it like a magnet that can’t be stuck together, is the closest thing I could describe what Piper was doing, it almost made me wonder what kind of Godly parent this girl had that could do that.

Annabeth and Grover quickly guided my dazed self to follow them, ignoring the number of comments, gasps, and whispers everyone was making when walking towards a large blue house, where the Kayla girl and a man/horse-ish guy were just coming out the door, I say ‘man/horse-ish guy’ because half of that man’s body was a horse. Like the Narnia movie, again, I could only remember the image in my head from both that and looking at the picture of a mythology book my Dad would read to me at the library, but I can’t remember what these creatures were called. Sytr? No that’s what Grover was.

“Chiron, thank the Gods, I-we brought news” Grover corrected himself then turned to introduce me to the horse-man, “This is Primrose Evans, the demigod I’ve been telling you about” The horse-man named Chiron glanced at me where I was starting to regain my conscious from Piper’s words. I looked at him then suddenly it clicked “Centaur!” I gasped remembering what his kinds are called. The centaur nods, “Of course, Hello Primrose, my name is Chiron” “I prefer to be called Prim if that’s okay” I was beginning to make sense after Grover had called me by my full name. Gosh, I hate it when people called me that, it sounded like they were ready to just call me Rose or Rosie and move on with the conversation, the inmates would mock me for that name during the first week before having to go by our last names or inmate number.

“No worries, Welcome to Camp HalfBlood, Annabeth do you mind taking Prim to watch the Orientation film, I need a conversation with Mr. Underwood” Annabeth nods “of course, come on” she motioned for me to follow her in a different direction of the campground, I did.
We walked into a different area away from the large house, and I began to take in everything I saw, A volleyball court, a bunch of younger campers playing music, and these almost half-human-like things that look like plants who were staring at me weirdly. Annabeth guided me to an area that looked like a theater show, “sit here” she says point over at a seat, the tone of her voice seemed bored, she’s probably rescued a million kids and taken them to watch an orientation video a bunch of times already.

A large Projector appeared on the stage and she clicked a certain button to activate the video, It was mostly like an old 50’s movie with a bunch of kids holding up signs followed by the view of a palace-like area with 12 chairs around a fireplace, then some shirtless guy explaining rules about the camp with a song and dance move, while everyone started singing again but it was some parody version of the hokey-pokey. In total an awkward 30 minutes that made me cringe a lot. Annabeth didn’t seem to very much care.

When we were walking back to the big house after the video I saw, the sun was still bright out but I had an odd feeling to hate it which I shouldn’t but I didn’t understand why.
Annabeth didn’t say anything during another walk we made our way inside the house, walking towards a hall with a room, outside there were pictures on the walls, large statues, and three different leopard heads on the wall that looked like their eyes were following our every move.
She knocked on the door three times, “ah come in” someone says and inside revealed an office room where Chiron and Grover were seated, but this time Chiron was sitting on a wheelchair with–legs? Another man was also present, He looked to be around his late 50’s wearing a leopard print shirt and drinking a can of Diet Coke, he didn’t seem to be very happy from whatever Grover had said. “Annabeth, Ms. Evans, take a seat,” Chiron says gesturing to the two chairs right next to Grover, the door opened again, and in walked Percy and the blonde boy from earlier, he had my pillowcase in his hands which I snatched it as soon as he got close enough to where we were, I sigh in relief when holding it tightly to my chest, the yarn bracelet was still there along with the paper frog and feather.

“Percy, Mr. Underwood was just informing me about the rescue you’ve both made after I’ve strictly told you not to go through, given our situation” Chiron’s voice sounded strict and firm almost like a disappointed father to his kid. Percy didn’t look to be scared but rather the blonde boy behind him was doing the worrying for him, “In my defense Chiron, we made it out alive, and look she here” Percy points at me, “Surely you have to cut the rest of us some slack for this, we broke her out of Prison and Rachel said–”
“Percy, I have been clear about the new campers not arriving until winter, Yet now we have to deal with this getting worse especially with the issues!”
“But Chiron–”
“I believe Peters right, Chiron” the leopard man interrupts, avoiding eye contact with anyone, and suddenly making another can of Diet Coke appear in his hands. Everyone seemed shocked at the man’s words as if this was the first time he said something helpful, although I couldn’t understand why he called Percy, Peter, that was beside my concern.

Percy smiled at him, “thank you, Dionysus, for my point exactly.” The man shrugs and slides the can of Diet Coke towards me, I take it just to be nice about it, although I was more of a Dr. Pepper kind of girl, though I haven't had Soda in so long, I’ll be fine with whatever I was given.
“Of course, the last time Mr. Underwood and he brought a demigod to camp, it took a whole turn for this place, but this should be fun to watch” Percy, Annabeth, and Grovers’ faces dropped, as the man smirked toward Chiron, “Wait-What?” Grover blinked as if he was just slapped in the face.
“William, give the girl a tour of the camp then take her to Cabin 11, I believe that there won’t be a claiming tonight” Dionysus smirked then snapped his fingers, and Poof, he was gone, leaving the bits of smoke that gave off a scent of Grapes.
“What did he mean by that?” I asked, Chiron turn to me and cleared his throat, “Ms. Evans, do you perhaps know who might be your Godly parent?” I shake my head, “it’s always just been my dad and I––My mother died when I was a baby” I looked at the floor, just bringing up my father felt like an ache missing him. “Where are you originally from, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I–I don’t remember, My dad and I were always on the road traveling” the questions were like the ones a social worker lady asked me about before taking me to the Juvilnie Center.
I waited for that one question he might bring up, he had to. If Chiron wasn’t planning on saying it, surely someone might, or the rest of the people outside of this large house will find out, and then I’ll be bombarded with questions about it and then answer them with ‘I don’t know.’ I looked back at the Centaur who to my surprise wasn’t writing anything down but rather he had his hands folded on top of a beige file folder attached to a single paper clip was the picture of my mugshot.
“How did you–” I paused pointing at it then saw Grover picking at the loose strings from the man saddle he had been carrying around all day, my stomach dropped, they must’ve already read through it while Annabeth and I were watching the Orientation film. Oh fuck, why me!

I cussed in my mind then continued to look down at the floor, tears started falling, I don’t know why, they don’t seem to be afraid of whatever the truth was. Chiron stayed silent, why did I suddenly feel like I knew that he wasn’t going to mention it but it was clear he won’t admit or deny it either?
“Do you know why you were there in the first place?”
I shake my head, “I can’t remember”
He looked at the file again, gosh I wish I could just snatch it out of his hands and read it, but that wouldn’t help at all, “I have some memories that I’ve recovered, mostly my childhood but everything else is… hazy” I finally broke the silence, hating how no one was doing anything about it.

“It says here, you had woken up with amnesia after the incident, I suggest it’s best to let the memories come back to you naturally, and we could fix that here, but no one is going to accuse you Prim, and no one’s going to find out about it unless you want them to, right?” Chiron assured his voice to Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and the Blonde boy, all four of them nod their heads, “but what about…you know,” said the Blonde boy, pointing behind him at the door. “I’ll let Mr. D handle that, now, I believe that’s all to discuss, Will, could you please give Ms. Evans a tour of the camp and then show her to Cabin 11, where she’ll be staying” the blonde boys face lit up “sure” he then reached over to grab my arm, which I jerked away, “oh sorry, come on I’ll show you around.”

Before we walked out of the big house, the boy named Will, looked up and down at me then took off his white coat to wrap it around me, “Perhaps it’s best that they don’t see that” he says referring to my uniform, before opening the door that leads to the outside of the big house, where a few other children were weaving baskets and laughing at one another. There was a large sign that pointed to different directions that lead to somewhere further ahead. Will didn’t seem to mind being around me, he spoke most of the entire tour telling me where is where, who is who, and which is what. There were so many places that even I lost track of understanding, I couldn’t even ask questions about them because of Will’s fast pace.
His voice sounded familiar, it was clear that he could sing pretty well, given that it was very southern.

“So am I suppose to stay here, forever?” I asked hessentatly, seeing that there was in fact a lot of people in this camp, “No not entirely, most campers are only seasonal, they go home to their parents and attend school, those who don’t stay all year around”
“Forever?”
“No, they can leave and try to live in the mortal world or in New Rome, when they’re of age, however Annabeth has been working on creating a greek version of the town for the older campers to live in, see that right there” Will points over at the giant white tent that covered a huge section of land, “We’ve been calling it New Athens as a joke, given that it’s our own little town of the original one in Greece, She’s been working on it since she graduated” he smiles proudly.

We stopped at a small store-like area where Will began to put stuff in a bag followed by an orange T-shirt that he and the campers were also wearing, along with a pair of blue jeans, “you might want to change into these, over there’s the bathroom” he pointed at another cabin-like era. I did as told, it was a surprisingly large space, and the clothes fit me like a warm hug, the kind that I felt longed for.
Even though it was the same orange as the jumpsuit, the pants made a big difference even if they were men’s size when I discovered they had front pockets, normally these clothes weren’t a style I like but I can’t complain. I’m still me, just in a different orange.

“This is the Strawberry patch, over there are the Demeter kids” he waves over at the group of kids wearing sun hats, they waved back, I felt some sort of warmth being around the garden, there was that faint smell of strawberries around but none looked to be growing. He took me to where a long row of cabins was everywhere in the form of a U, with a huge fire pit in the middle, “and these are the cabins for every Godly parent, each camper shares with a demigod sibling, over there is mine, the Apollo Cabin” he says as they passed by a golden cabin that almost blinded my eyes, across from it was a cabin that had much more of a cooler tone of silver, “my aunt Artemis’ Cabin, no one stays there except for her hunters who visit from time to time” Will informs.
“where are they now?”
“they travel a lot with the Goddess, fighting Giants and killing Monsters, sometimes they deliver babies–” he shivers at the mention of that.
“What?”
“nothing just–they’re brave girls for putting up with that, I delivered a baby once, and let me tell you, Midwifery wasn’t for me” my eyes went wide in amazement.
“–Moving on” he continues to mention the Ares Cabin, then the Demeter one, and Athena. I was certain to not like that cabin with its giant owl staring, I didn’t feel comfortable about the way they look so terrorizing with their creepy eyes.
“Out of the way!” someone says pushing passed us, “Gods Damn it, Malcolm!” Will stumbled to the side as the boy was holding a mountain of books that were stacked up, basically covering his face, “Sorry Will, my mom just sent me these new first edition copies from her job and I have to read them all before everyone else does, don’t bother me!” the boy named Malcolm calls out before running into the Athena Cabin and slamming the door.
“That’s Malcolm Pace, Son of Athena, he’s a handful” Will shook his head and then lead me to move along.

A large black cabin with skulls, torches, and gems that looked to be bedazzled around it caught my attention, especially the bright rose bushes on the sides “who’s cabin is that?” I stopped mid-walk, “My boyfriend’s cabin,” he says nonchalantly, “Son of Hades, he’s visiting his sister Hazel right now at Camp Jupiter, he’ll be back next week with the Camps Summer visit with us.” he gives a deep sigh making the end of his words, sounds like he misses him. I felt the urge to ask him about this ‘Camp Jupiter’ he just mentioned but didn’t want to upset him some more, so we continued with the tour, passing the Hephestus, Aphrodite, and Dionysus cabin (Which yes I did put two in two together and realized the leopard man was in fact The God of Wine) before I was finally lead towards one with a medical symbol on it.
“here it is, the Hermes cabin, it takes in the unclaimed children” he gestures to the door, “unclaimed?”
“You’ll only be here temporarily until a God claims you as theirs”
“Didn’t the leopard man say that I wouldn’t be claimed tonight? What did he mean by that anyways?” Will sucked his teeth unsure whether to say it.
“Well 5 years ago the Gods started to claim their children by the time their 13 or if not then by the first day they arrive at camp” I gave him a confused look, “but I’m 16” I remembered that clearly, a social worker said I was 13 years old when I first went into the prison.
“Well, it’s not the first time the Gods have done this but from what Mr. D said earlier I’m not sure, the best we can do is put you here, Hermes takes the unclaimed kids so this is where you’ll stay” He then opened the door to reveal the inside, there were rows of bunk beds, pictures of different countries, posters, pictures of other campers in their orange t-shirts, a sword stabbed onto the wall, and a map of the Camp.

A kid was passed out on his bed, the small girl who was on the Chariot ride earlier, was writing in her journal, and another boy had–what looked like– a snake wrapped around his neck, “Connor put Cherry back in her cage please, I’m trying to show the new girl around” the boy named Connor rolled his eyes and went to put the snake away.
“Wait, is she Undetermined?” the girl asked, Will, nodded which lit up her face.
“You can take the bunk under Georgie’s,” Connor says while still being turned away, the small girl patted the bed that was under hers, Oh so her name is Georgie.
I walked over to the bed and placed my pillow case and camp bag, (the one Will packed for me) on top.
“Connor’s brother, Travis is the councilor for Cabin 11 during the summer, you’ll meet him around here but in the meantime, this is just temporary for you, now I’ll leave you to it, dinner should be called out soon, see you then” Will smiled again and then left me on my own in a Cabin with strangers.
Connor eyed me up and down, muttering something I couldn’t hear, then went to the whiteboard where a bunch of words was written down, “What’s your name?” he asked, “Prim Evans” I said, he took out a black marker and started writing, “That says Prime Evens” Georgie tells him “Oh hush, you can’t blame me over my dyslexia, you get a new camp buddy now.”
I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but the sound of a horn was being blown through the distance, “Dinner!” the kid who was asleep had awoken by the sound and then ran out the door, pushing past another boy that was coming inside the cabin, he looked like Connor but a little older, possibly his brother Travis.
He eyed me the same way then at the whiteboard, “Undetermined huh? now, this should be fun.”

Chapter Text

Georgie was nice enough to show me where the Mess Hall was, considering that after the whole tour Will had shown me, I was still so lost despite the signs everywhere.
The outdoor area was framed with white marble-like stones that had a near view of the ocean, it looked nothing like the cafeteria at the Juvenile Center. There were picnic tables around but no roof or umbrella to cover the top. What happens if it rains? I asked myself, thinking that maybe the area had some type of magic tent that could appear on top if it did.

It turns out that the small girl–Georgie, was also a talker once we met up with the rest of the children from the Hermes cabin, there had to be about 12 of them in total and when they saw me most of them had their eyes widened, necks titled back, some put their hand out for me to shake, and one had made a comment asking if Aphrodite hadn’t claimed me yet because it looked pretty obvious I must be her daughter. I’m not sure if that was a compliment or not but I decided to ignore that one. Surprisingly no one had said anything about my arrival earlier.

Instead, I sat next to Georgie at the far end of the table where I was sure to be pushed to the floor any second, the table was filled with different types of fruits, steamed vegetables, barbecue ribs, and pizzas, a goblet cup was on each of the campers plates, but it was empty and no drinks were nearby. I saw that Georgies’ cup was filling up all by itself, “you need to ask what kind of drink you want, non-alcoholic of course even if your 21” the kid in front of me (who had introduced himself as Cecil Markowitz earlier) says.
“I’m 16,” I tell him at which he dropped his fork in shock, I picked up the goblet and raised it a bit, and said, “Dr. Pepper?” within seconds a sizzled sound sprang through the cup and the drink appeared, I almost dropped it in amazed.
I started piling my plate with one of everything before anyone else began to take hold, learning from my first week at the Juvenile to take the good stuff first before your stampede into a mess with the other inmates taking it away from your tray or messing it and forcing you to eat the food covered in milk while they turn into killer monsters– Ehm Officer Mustache.
Just by knowing that there are so many children sitting at a table with me right now, I suddenly felt like I was back in that environment, perhaps this place isn’t any different from it.
“That’s a lot to burn for the Gods” Georgie mentions just before I took a bite of the food, “what?”
“I think Will forgot to mention that at every meal you have to burn a portion of it for the Gods” she then points to the giant fireplace where everyone was gathering around to throw their plates of food in.
“What’s the reason behind it?” I questioned while we made our way to the fire, “Offerings and respect, something like that, but I do it mostly to watch the food magically burn” the small girl smiles as she throws two slices of pizza into it, “To the Gods…and whoever my parent is?” Georgie says sighing, “Wait, You’re not a Hermes kid?” I say surprised, questioned enough by earlier when seeing the girl run up to Jo and Emmi and call them Mom and Mama. I might have been homeschooled my whole life but I think I knew that in order to make a baby there need to be two people of different genders for it to happen and if they don’t want it then they could give it to a nice gay couple to raise it.

Georgie shrugs “I have two loving mothers back in Indiana, along with Calypso, Leo, and Lityerses, he’s in New Rome right now though, but about 3 years ago I was told that the God Apollo was possibly my Godly parent yet he’s never claimed me, but I come here during the summer now for the hopes to of it” She touched the leather necklace around her neck that had 3 painted beads on it. I had a loss for words, mostly confused, what if I don’t ever get claimed?
Looking down at the plate of food, just seeing it made my stomach growl, Will did mention how the Gods are supposed to claim their children right away before turning 13, but in this case, I was 16 and 3 years too late for that.
“To whoever my mother is?” I whispered before throwing the plate into the flames, a spark of green smoke blazed through and I yelped in fear, running to hide behind Georgie.
“I think next time you should try without throwing the plate in,” someone says behind us, Leo stood there with a plate of ribs, “Celestial Plates and the flames of Hestia don’t mix quite well,” he says and suddenly the fire made a ‘Haack’ sound and spat out the plate to which Leo caught like a flying disk, it should’ve burned him. “Ya see” he chuckles, “sorry” I mutter, then follow Georgie back to the Hermes table, from a distance theirs looks to be the largest one out of the other campers, I spotted Percy sitting beside Annabeth at the Athena table, with another giant Owl statue on it, alongside the couple was the Malcolm boy who had a book covering his face and not eating.
“How come he didn’t burn himself when catching the plate?” I asked Georgie, hoping to finally get some of my questions answered, “He’s the son of Hephestus, a rare ability to have is fire control and be immune to it” she says, “does everyone have magic?” I thought back at how Percy controlled the water at the lake when we got here.

“Some do, if you’re a child of a minor God then you won’t get much, Percy is the son of Poseidon which is the big three, children of them are the most powerful ones, the stories everyone has about” she shakes her head in exaggeration. Georgie began to give me a low down on everyone and their Godly parents/powers. Piper’s the daughter of Aphrodite could chramspeak, using her words to control people with whatever, oh that explains how uncomfortable I’ve been whenever she talks in a sweet way.

“Do you think I might have some magic or superpowers?” I asked her, piling my new plate with food again, “perhaps you might, it depends once your Godly parent claims you or it advances before or after being here, I, on the other hand, found out that I can do this” she took out a tool from her pocket, flicking it around in which a knife appeared, “my mama made me this for Christmas last year, but look what I could make it do” she then chucks it to the nearest camper at the Demeter table, a girl with red glasses was eating chicken wings like it was no one’s business, the knife was about to hit her when it suddenly switched directions and landed to the table next to her’s where that Will guy was sitting.
“Chiron said it’s called Trajectory Manipulation, any object I throw can curve and anything thrown at me I can stop temporarily” she shrugs, “That’s amazing,” I tell her, she didn’t look too impressed, “It’s low-level telekinesis, I hate it.”

I wanted to ask her more about it but the sound of someone loudly tapping on their glass cup, interrupted, Chiron was now in his Centurian form and the campers went quiet as he spoke, “Campers, I have a few announcements, it is appealed for me to first welcome our new demigod, Prim Evans, to Camp Halfblood, I’m sure you will all treat her with the same respect we give to all of you” All eyes were now on me, everyone began to clap, please look away.
“Secondly, as you may know, this upcoming week we’ll have our summer visit with Camp Jupiter, your cabin counselors will inform you of the rest of the activities we will be having that week, and Third, we’ve rescheduled all of your weekly therapeutic life skills appointments with Mr. and Mrs. Blofis-Jackson for next month, any questions?” the whole camp began to groan and raise their hands filtering out questions and cuss words.

“Therapeutic Life skills? What is that–” I turned to ask Georgie but the small girl suddenly disappeared with the rest of the Hermes kids, going over to where Chirons’ table was. “Having fun?” another voice said coming over to sit next to me, it was a girl with red curly hair, she had dark circles under her eyes as though she hasn’t had a good night’s rest, and there were paint splatters on her clothes, she was carrying a journal, on one hand, if honest she was gorgeous in a way I would admire from a distance. “Umm I guess” I looked down at the table, “Don’t worry it happens to the best of us, I’m Rachel Dare, by the way, the Camps Oracle” she puts out her free hand for me to shake, I try to politely decline, “Prim Evans”
“You’re Maxtons’ daughter”
I held in a breath, hearing my Dad’s name coming from her.
“Y-you read my file?”
“No, I’m an Oracle, I can pretty much know bits about you, like-” Rachel's eyes glowed a bit of green, “your favorite color is Fushia, which is a lovely color” she smiles, which only made me not want to be near this girl any longer.
“You don’t have to be nice to me,” I say suddenly losing my appetite, “But I want to, you see Prim, That’s the thing about the Oracle of Delphi, it’s a complicated gift but it gives clear sight through the mist and people”
“Why are you telling me this?” I didn’t want to sound rude but I wonder if it could make Rachel leave me alone, “Well about a month ago I happen to have gotten a dream about you”
“Me?”
Rachel fumbles with the notebook for a bit “It’s complicated to say but, it told me to tell Percy and Grover to complete that rescue mission along with everyone else”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure, but I did my own separate digging after Chiron informed me about what happened to you–”
I stood up quickly, “No, please I don’t want to talk about this” I walked off, feeling my heart racing, I can’t keep hearing about it from her, the guilt could come back, when I woke up that day at the cell, I couldn’t stop feeling dead inside not even knowing why. Chiron did say I can regain my memory naturally though and that no one should know unless I want them to, I don’t want them to because it feels like I’ve done something wrong, awful?
Rachel followed me, along with Piper who was coming our way, “Wait–Primrose, You need to listen to me–”
“No thank you” I began to walk faster.
“Prim–” Piper caught up with me, she tried to grab my arm but I flinched away. No, I knew what Piper was about to do and I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” a familiar flame of anger flickered inside of me. Rachel’s eyes widened, and so did Piper’s as she stepped back, but I didn’t stay behind to see what they were about to say or do, instead I ran, passing by the field of grass leading to where the cabins are, making it back to Cabin 11 and shut the door, hoping they wouldn’t come in. I tried counting up to 30 then sat down on my bunk bed and began to cry.
That feeling I had, taken so long to get over, I had no idea why I’d wake up each morning crying, my heart was about to explode every time I kept asking myself what happened, I was one minute going to sleep after saying good night to my Dad and the next I just didn’t know who I was.
This is all too much to handle, the breakout, the discussion of a Greek God being my parent, coming to this new place with a bunch of strangers who don’t know me and suddenly have not been asked the question of my prison uniform that I arrived wearing. The whole identity crisis package if you must say.
It’s just too much. The thought of leaving crawled into my mind, what if I did? But where would I even go? There was possibly a warrant out for my arrest if the mist wasn’t working, I knew almost no one in the outside world.

Perhaps I could find my father? No that doesn’t sound like a good idea.

My head started to scramble with the growl of my empty stomach, I knew I hadn’t eaten anything since the early lunch at the Waystation, but the thought of going back out to the Mess Hall and seeing everyone, made it difficult for me to even try and go back there. I went to sleep with the hope that this whole experience was just a dream and when I woke up I’ll be back in my cell.

My dream felt like a blur of darkness but oddly enough I found myself somewhere I wasn’t sure, but I recognized Chiron, there along with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, next to them were Piper, Calypso, Leo, and the other side was Lou Ellen, Will, and that girl Rachel.
There were other people seated as well but I didn’t know their names besides Travis and Connor Stoll, however, they didn’t look to be surprised by whatever they’d just been told, one of them had their feet prompt up the large pingpong table and the other camper was sharpening the blade of her sphere.
“I mean it’s possible if anything,” the girl with the blade says, “but how can you be certain?” said one boy eating out of a jar of Nutella, he had sleepy eyes but under them were so dark that he looked to be insomniac much more than Rachel.

“She was surrounded by so many monsters when we found her, Piper tells them what you saw” Calypso taps Piper’s shoulder, who looked like she was concerned over something, she looked at Rachel who had the same expression as she did.
“Well, then my money is on Zeus,” Travis says pulling out a 20-dollar bill from his pocket and throwing it on the pingpong table, “Would you not make bets on this, Chiron say something please?” Annabeth looked over at the Centaur, who was now looking through the notebook Rachel had earlier.

He sighs closing it “I wish I could say that it’s impossible, but–” he shakes his head, “–no, never mind, Stoll, stop making bets on her, Annabeth, every Demigod is different” he hands Rachel her notebook back, “and she just got here, you can’t be making harsh decisions on the girl, she’ll need to be trained, perhaps you and Percy–”
”No they won’t” I didn’t notice Dionysus was next to Chiron, or perhaps he appeared there, I’m not too sure but I jumped when hearing him interrupt what the Centaur was saying, “Excuse me?”
“I’ll be the one training her” the room went silent for a bit then the two brothers burst out laughing, “Mr. D this isn’t Karate Kid, how are you going to train a newbie like her” Connor snorts.
“Let’s just say that madness is the main source, surely Perrie, Rockefeller, and Pepper here know what I mean” Dionysus then turns to Percy, Rachel, and Piper, but his gaze was mostly on Percy who was standing next to another boy with a rainbow mark on his arm, Chiron looked at him “Let me guess you have something to say about this too?”
Percy nods “it’s about the Pegasus’, Butch was telling me about how when they got back to the stables they weren’t feeling well, I spoke to BlackJack and he told me the same thing Calypso just mentioned about Primrose”
“Pegasi’s are weak when there near Yew,” the guy named Butch says
“Me!?” Percy sounded offended
The girl with red glasses groans “No, he means; Yew, Y-e-w, it’s a tree that–”
“Someone here,” the Nutella boy says, whipping his head over to where I was standing and pointing at me, right away I felt panicked.
Okay, it’s one thing to feel like you are eavesdropping on people talking about you, but it’s another if they know you are doing it, and yet I thought this was only a dream but I guess it wasn't.
“Who?” asked Rachel looking in the boy’s direction, “I don’t know, but I can feel their presence” the Nutella boy quietly stood up and walked over to the corner where I was, “It’s probably Nico, Clovis, sit back down,” Will says walking behind him, “No it’s not him, I know what Nico’s astral feels like, but this one is different, it’s warm and…” the boy’s voice suddenly faded, it felt like I was being pulled back into a new dream of the time when my Dad and I would camp out in the hills of Vermont and watch the stars;

“That over there is the Hydra, the largest constellation to be seen,” He says, as we were laying on the grass on a summer night, from the distance, 4-year-old me could hear my father’s biker friends all singing by the campfire and roasting fish that they caught earlier that day by the lake, “can you tell me where’s the Hercules constellation, Priy,” Dad asked sitting up, the light from the distance gleaned on him, making his skin an orange color but he still looked like any other man who could easily win a fight. I looked up again at the sky, shifting my head from right to left, then pointed up at one of them, “that one up there next to the Draco Constellation” “Correct” He smiled, “What is the Myth behind it?”
“Well in Greek Mythology–” he was cut off by one of the big leaders calling out for him, my dad sighed and looks over at me with a sorry look in his eyes, our eyes. “I’ll tell you the rest tomorrow alright Beta” he helped me up from the grass and then motioned for me to go back into the tent, I already knew what to do whenever the leader, would call out for him, there was no arguing and no fight for my Dad to put up with this man, you simply had to obey the rules if you want to be part of this group.

My dream changed back to reality when someone shook me awake.
“Prim, Prim wake up, come on!” Georgie whispered shouts, her hands cold on my skin, my eyes shot open in a jolt, restraining myself to not strangle the small girl for the scare, “what happened?” I say looking around her, the faint sight from the window indicated the sun rising, “Nothing, I wanted to wake you up in the hopes that there’s still time to use the hot showers before it gets cold” Georgie hands me a red towel, I hesitated at the thought of the shower situation I’ll have to face at the camp, ‘please let it not be the same rule as the ones at the Juvenile’.
“Come on!” Georgie grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door, I glance back and notice that the Stoll brothers were sleeping in their bunks, which confused me a bit thinking that I had just seen them awake in my dream.

Luckily the rule was nothing like in the Juvenile. I had time to process the first part of the dream in my head as I showered. ‘Astral’ was a word my father once mentioned a long time ago when I was 5 and once told him about a dream where I was flying through the night sky and saw myself asleep out in the field next to the fire he built. “Astral Projection is the word or in this case ‘Bhagavat Purana’ The Ancient Stories of Vishnu, say that it doesn’t come naturally to a normal human, but as a Hindu, it means ones fully conscious, awakens” another memory to recollect as I try holding back the tears when drying my hair.
I haven’t had a dream like that ever since, or at least until last night, I wondered if that Clovis boy ever figured out that it was me in the dream. The other thought I had was what they were talking about, it was clear it was about me, duh, the Stoll brothers and Chiron said so, and it makes me feel upset to find out in such a strange way I can’t even tend to describe it to anyone. Would Georgie even listen? Or would she think I’m crazy?
She did however ask me why I left during the middle of dinner as we walked back to the Hermes Cabin, saying that I also missed out on the singalong and smores, “It’s been a long day, I wasn’t that hungry” cue my stomach growling once again, “what about now?” Georgie asked, I nod, accidentally bumping into the girl with red glasses who fell to the floor, “sorry” I tell her pulling the girl back up, “it’s alright, you’re tall it’s normal for you to be clumsy” she says wiping the dirt off her leg, “this is Meg McCaffrey, Daughter of Demeter” Georgie explains, Meg rolls her eyes then looks at me up and down, “what?”
“Nothing, you just seem cool, how about you join my siblings and I gardening sometime?”
“She’d love to” Georgie squeezed my hand and then dragged me away from Meg’s sight. “You can thank me later, the Aphrodite kids would’ve planned to hunt you down and give you a makeover and believe me they would’ve plucked your eyebrows off, every new girl has been through that” she shivered at the mention of it.

During breakfast, which thankfully we didn’t need to burn food, I made sure this time to actually eat, taking a bite of a delicious Everything bagel sandwich with cream cheese and a sausage patty, call it discussing but I’d call it heaven. Eating everything like I was on death row and given a last meal. The Hermes kids did give odd looks but I didn’t care what they had to say and chugged a goblet of orange juice. “Savoring up some energy for today huh?” someone says coming up to the table, a blonde guy with a purple sweatband on his head was standing by the front side of the table where Georgie and I were, “What?” I said forgetting that my mouth was full, so instead my words came out sounding like “Guaa?” rather than “What?”

“Training, for today, my dad told me to come to get you once you’ve finished-uh all that” he motioned his hands to mimic the face I had eating two different foods, a croissant, and an apple. “Why does Mr. D need to see her? I thought Prim was going to train with the rest of the Hermes cabin and me?” Georgie asked, I coughed as I swallowed, suddenly putting the words, ‘Mr. D’ and ‘Training’, together, this was what was heard in the dream and what I remembered was that this boy was also there when Dionysus mentioned it.
“Apparently, my Dad has made it a big deal that she is to only be trained by him”
“W-why?” I finally found enough space in my mouth to speak, the boy looked at me and shrugged, ‘lier’ I inwardly said. I left my food behind and followed the boy who introduced himself as Pollux, the Son of Dionysus.

Chapter Text

He lead me to an arena where two people were there along with Dionysus standing beside them. He was wearing a tiger print blouse today, sipping on another can of Diet Coke. The two other people were campers much younger than Pollux and I.

One had tan skin and black hair while the other had dreadlocks and sunglasses on, “Oh good, your late” Dionysus says seeing us walk in, “Sorry Dad” Pollux said looking ashamed. I didn’t understand what was going on, “You wanted to see me, sir?” I asked the man/God, nicely in hopes to comprehend what is happening, “Yes, Daisy, I was informed by Chiron about your…issue. I think it would be best if I trained you myself before you go on and become part of the other campers."

“My name is Prim” I corrected him, but he ignored it “I’ll need you to find a weapon in the shed, Pollux could help you with that after, but for now you can use my daughter’s sword, Uva!” he called out for the smaller kid to come, she handed me a sword that was as tall as the girl with a greek helmet to wear, it felt heavy and not at all something I would fight with. Heck, I didn’t know how to even use a sword.

The God began instructing me how to create a movement by telling the other kid, (who happens to be his other son Gavin) what to do. “Stand by the far end,” He tells me pointing at the other side of the Arena, I did as told and waited for him to instruct me what’s next. “Pollux, Now!” Dionysus shouts at Pollux, to which he extense his arms out where a sprout of vines sprung out from the ground, they grew up to 12 feet tall and moved their way to where I was standing. I screamed, dropping the sword and ducking as one vine tried to wrap itself around my neck, I tried to run but another was wrapped around my ankle causing me to trip. “Stop! Stop!” I shout trying to get away from the other vines coming near.

“Fight it,” a voice said in my head, I never heard that before, “No, No, Please!” I begged to feel my entire body being lifted off the ground, Dionysus looked to be enjoying the sight of me screaming for help, and Pollux had a look of worry but kept the vines growing.
“Fight it Prim it’s your only way out” the voice spoke again, something about it triggered a rage inside me and when the vines began to wrap my arms, it was like I had been transported back to the first time a police officer had handcuffed me, with no regret did they think of checking twice that they cuffed too tight in which I bled and cried.
I suddenly screamed more and let the anger take charge, snapping the vines from my wrist and began to grab as many of the plants as I could, pulling them off from around me, I dropped to the ground instantly. “That enough son,” Dionysus says to Pollux, I tried to catch my breath, coughing as I take off the helmet to regain consciousness of where I was.

“You!” I points at the God who was all of sudden right next to me, “What the hell was that! I could’ve died!” hot tears poured down my face, Dionysus grinned, “I believe I have found the answer to getting your memory back” he says in a low voice for the others not to hear, I stood quiet, “W-What?”
“That is all for today, Pollux will now show you to the weapon shed, choose wisely Marigold, tomorrow another lesson” he then vaporized himself away, leaving purple smoke and the scent of grapes.

“That was awesome!” Uva says following us to where the weapon shed was, Gavin was behind her, nodding in agreement. “Usually Dad doesn’t teach anyone at all, not even us except to play pinochle,” the boy tells me, pushing open the door, the weapon shed looked more like any other garden toolhouse except the inside was massively large. “What are you normally good at?” Pollux asked as he grabbed an axe from the wall, looked at me then put it back.
I tried to think but nothing came to mind, ‘making a weapon out of my own toothbrush’ I thought, remembering how I still have that in my pillowcase.
I shake her head, “I’m not sure.” The four of us went on to search for something I could try, most of the swords didn’t look too good on me and each spear felt small in my grasp. “Hello! How about this one!” Gavin calls out holding up a shotgun, “there you go, that looks more like your style” Uva says passing over the weapon, “the bullets never run out and it’s harmless to mortals."

I reached over to grab it, and a bright spark hits my hand as I touch it, instantly I was brought back to the memory of 6-year-old me, crying as I held a gun;
“Shoot the damn thing!” someone shouts, “I can’t” I cried seeing the nearly decapitated deer on the ground. “You worthless kid” the person yelling snatched the gun from my hand and pulled the trigger on the animal, leaving its lifeless body in front of me.

I jolted away from the shotgun, which quickly brought me to the present time. “N-No, maybe not a gun,” I said then grabbed the nearest thing close, it was a belt-like thing in a circle form, with white and black marble designs around it, “what about this one?” it did take an interest in my eyes, Pollux grabbed it from me and flicked it to see if it did anything, oddly it did.
A spring of rope sprung out, with a cracking sound at the end of it, “It’s a whip” he said studying it more in his hands, “wait no, plural, there’s two of them” he pulled out the other end of it where another whip was then flipped it over, “It says here it use to belong to Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge” the two kids gasped, “but aren’t Godly weapons not suppose to be here?” Uva mentions, turning to see my confused face.

“Depends if it’s useless to them then it could be put here” He hands the belt back to me and I decided to try it on, it adjusted to my waist like a normal belt and the whips were strapped back into place “it feels weird” I grabbed one of the whips and flicked it to one of the objects near, a blade was at the end of the rope which made it helpful.
The sound it caused, made a smile appear on my lips for the first time, “I like this one” “then I guess we have a winner” Gavin clapped.
For the rest of the day, the three of Dionysus’s children rotated to take me to the activity courses around the camp, the first being archery, a class I first thought to be like the Hunger Games movie. The girl who I recognized as Kayla from yesterday, was the one teaching the class, and even though the girl had to stand on a step stool to teach me to hold a bow and arrow, well… let’s just say that instead of hitting the bullseye, the arrow instead landed on the grass along with me grunting, clenching the left side of my chest.

Another round of activities Pollux, Uva, and Gavin tried to show me was even worse; The camp had an actual Lava rock climbing course that I instantly said no to. Music wasn’t any help although the image of my father telling me how he was a professional triangle player came to mind it seemed offensive when I told the joke to the Sytr who was teaching the class.

After lunch, I was introduced to the kids from the Ares cabin, or more so just most of them were the same age as Percy and his friends, the oldest was a woman who looked like the one in my dream from last night sharping the sphere, no older than 23 she was short but had an attitude of Officer Mustache, (minus the mustache although I found it funny to imagine it on the girl.) Her name was Clarisse de la Rue and her brother Sherman was instructing a boxing course on a giant trampoline with some other campers who were being thrown left to right across the mats underneath, “I don’t think this is a good idea” I whispers to Pollux as we watch the Clarisse girl shout at her siblings that they were doing a certain kick wrong. “Nonsense, we’ve all been through this and every camper has to go at least once with this, it’s basically tradition,” he tells me, grabbing a helmet from the box of supplies.

I gave him a questioning look, “So, You’ve fought them before?” Pollux nods, “I fought Sherman, Castor was the one who lost to Clarisse”
“Who’s Castor?”
“My twin”
“You have a twin? Where is he?” I looked around but couldn’t find anyone who looked like him, but what I did see from a distance were some of the other campers watching me which Gavin and Uva had said to ignore, I hadn’t noticed that the twin wasn’t at the arena earlier but by the sad look of Pollux, I thought not to push the topic further.

“Let’s just get you up the trampoline” he quickly says holding up a stool for me to step on.
Sherman gave me the same up-and-down look, (what is it with everyone doing that?) then took off his gloves and helmet, “Erik you’re up!” he shouts at the kid from the other side, “What! No, I’m not fighting a girl!” the boy says crossing his arms, “You fought half of the Aphrodite girls earlier, what difference does this make?”
Erik scowled “She’s…you know” he tries to make an obvious move with his eyes indicating either that I was tall or weak, the other thought was maybe he was too scared to fight a girl who was from the Juvenile but I tried to get that out of my mind.
Clarisse groans then pushes the boy to the side, giving him a flick on the forehead, “I’ll do it, you big sissy” She snatches Sherman’s helmet and gloves, also flicking him on the head as well. I looked back to see that Dionysus’s children were now in the far back, Uva tried to cheer me on, “You can do this Prim!"

I could suddenly feel my lunch coming back up, seeing as though Clarisse had suddenly transformed into a beast when the whistle blew. I took it as a trigger when the memory of my first fight with the inmates came to mind. Instantly getting punched in the face by Clarisse, and falling off the trampoline, my nose throbbed when I landed on the grass missing the mat by an inch. Thankfully no blood was coming out.
“See I told you, I would end up pulverizing that girl if I got to fight,” Erik says with a sigh, it didn’t occur to me when I got back up and climbed onto the trampoline, “Prove it!” I called out to Erik, there was no anger, just annoyance.
“Think like your back in Prison,” The voice in my head says, 'What?' I thought, “It’ll help,” it says again, ‘No, I’m not going to do that,’ I couldn't understand what it meant, nor can I trust it as to what happened earlier at the Arena with Dionysus.

Erik rolled his eyes and stepped into the trampoline, “you’ll regret this” he points at me with a glare, taking Clarisse’s gear and putting it on. “3” Sherman shouts, “2” we got into the fighting position, “Do it” the voice comes in once more, and this angered me to take it up on Erik when the whistle blew again.
I envisioned Tammi Richards there making fun of me, I screamed and launched at Erik, then everything went by at a fast pace, I punched him in the throat right when he elbowed my ribs, and the next second we were both thrown to the grown, he tried grabbing me by the wrist but that only made me angrier, the same feeling came back to what the vines did, I wanted to rip his arms off but someone grabbed me to stop it from happening, “Prim! Prim Stop it!” the person was Percy gripping me tightly.
For it wasn’t from the anger suddenly wearing off and making all the energy in me loosen, I’d hit this guy as well for pulling me away, but slowly my eyes began to feel heavy, I didn’t hear Piper anywhere near to put me to sleep but I was quick to collapse and lose consciousness.

I was tired, my bones were heavy and every movement made my head throb, I couldn’t open my eyes but when I did, I saw myself at age 6, visiting Seattle, Washington with my Dad, he stayed behind from the group to take me on a learning trip all around town, visiting Museums and parks, it was his way of educating me even when we’d stop by libraries to see if I could read something to him, that was one struggle I never could get pass through, I couldn’t manage to hold a sentence together when seeing words.
My father mostly had to read out loud so I could understand it, memorizing what he would tell me, if I ever got an answer correctly he would reward me with a story about the Hindu Gods, most of the time it was about Shiva who was his favorite to talk about.

“He was always known for holding a Trident known as a Trishula, who else has something like that?” I stopped swinging my legs to think “The Sea God from Greek, Neptune?” dad chuckles, “Poseidon, but yes Priy”
“Are they related? Like maybe distant cousins, like Jesus and John the Baptist?”
“No, not exactly, many Gods from different pantheons in this world have a different version of their stories and beliefs, they sometimes have the same and some don’t, but Hinduism is over a billion years old, much older than the Greeks,” He tells me as we sit by the water fountain having lunch, “Shiva has many titles to be the God of, nothing like Poseidon, it’s offensive to compare them as the same, and you wouldn’t want to upset Shiva, he carries wrath in him and it’s not pretty to see that side” he pokes my cheek, I giggle. “You should never get angry over the smallest things my flower, it usually leads the behavior of an innocent person to a desire that's unduly strong.”
“I don’t like being angry” I pout, “neither do I, but you want to know what could help?”
“Ice cream!” I cheered, “Later, what I mean is what could help you at a moment like what happened yesterday, what do you do?” I looked down at the ground, seeing a penny but decided to not pick it up, I was ashamed of what occurred that day. The Leader was teaching me how to use a gun, for the several time that month and I failed once again, He said some hurtful words that ended up with him getting hurt.

“I said I was sorry” tears began to form in my eyes, “I know you did Priy, but next time if you ever get mad, even if it hurts you to fight back just leave that situation and don’t look back, it’s a natural thing that one must concur and control, it’s different for those like us, but trust me I learned the hard way so I know you will conquer it,” he wiped my tears with his thumb, holding me close to his chest, his scent of sage and mint leaves, filled my nose, he was always so calm no matter what mood I was in, he started humming a familiar tune I grew to love at heart, the beginning chorus song of ‘Sunflower’ by Naomi Solace, a known country singer in the south that I love to listen to whenever we visited Texas during the winter.

I woke up to someone grabbing my hand and jumped at a touch of warmth. I was met with blue eyes and a shocked look on Will’s face, “I just wanted to check your pulse” he says holding out his hand in hopes I would allow him to now that I was awake, I did, and he checked his watch, then lets go of my wrist. “Your clear, that was one of the best fights I ever saw” he gleams “What?” why would he say that? From what I remember it was awful, beating that Erik boy.
“I mean you were all like ‘Wha-Bam!’ and ‘Hiya!’,” he began to make fight moves in front of me, “Is Erik alright?” I asked, “Oh yeah, he’s fine, a bloody nose and a broken arm but he’ll live” the way he was saying it was like it meant nothing.

A knock on the door interrupted his conversation, and Georgie came in along with Clarisse. She didn’t have any expression on her face but seemed rather astonished by the sight of me.
“Mr. D wants to see you Will,” she says, pushing Georgie to take him to Dionysus, leaving only me and her in the infirmary, “Good job today, Erik deserved it for being a jack-ass” Clarisse sat by the other side of the cot where I was, “I thought I nearly killed him” I mutter putting my knees to my chest, “Nah, Percy grabbed you before you could do that, I gotta say you have pretty good fighting skills”
“Thanks, I guess?”
Clarisse looked around and then leaned closer, “I know Mr. D told us to not ask you, but I need to know” I gulped back, afraid of what she might say, “Something triggered you to fight him, didn’t it?”
I finally let out a breath, pushing off the emotions I held back, “I-I don’t know” I say, “well, whatever it was I think you’d be a great fit in the Ares cabin, I’m surprised the Gods haven’t claimed you yet” she showed a smile which I didn’t think a girl like her could do, it was like seeing Officer Mustache smile with the yellow teeth showing.

But Clarisse didn’t have yellow teeth, they were white as paper, “I don’t think I’d be an Ares kid, I already have a Dad” I mention to her.
“Oh” Clarisse’s smile faded, “well Gods still could appear in different forms to a mortal, Apollo is Kayla’s mother and he’s normally a male God” that left me with no words to say about that, “How does that work?”
“Well-” she was cut off by Chiron coming in, he was in his Centaur form, “Will had informed me that you were awake, Clarisse, I could take it from here.” he motioned for Clarisse to leave, Chiron didn’t look disappointed when he saw me, I was expecting a lecture or even a punishment like a guard would give me, but instead Chiron asked; “What did you remember?”

Chapter Text

For the next few days, I started to adjust to my new routine at Camp, Georgie was a lot of help, she’d watch from afar the training I adapted to hating. Dionysus wasn’t much of a good teacher, word had gotten to him about the fight and now he wouldn’t make any of the training easier for me.
The day after my fight with Erik, Chiron asked if I remembered anything which lead to me every day after dinner, I’d go to him and inform anything and everything that came to me, some days I would have a certain memory come. Like when I was having lunch with Georgie, Pollux, Uva, and Gavin, by the big house’s porch, Leo, his siblings, and Calypso were nearby fixing a giant metal Dragon that I had seen around the camp named Festus.
Nyssa had said a few words in Spanish to instruct Calypso with, assuming she was probably teaching her Spanish, “Wait, where’s the screw?”
“Defrente”
“To the right?”
“No Defrente”
“Different?”
I overheard the conversation and had to butt in without realizing I did, “Defrente, means front.”
“Since when do you speak Spanish?” Gavin asked, giving me a wide eye look, I shrug thinking that it was because of the Spanish cartoons watched in the Juvenile’s day room. Later that evening during a canoe lesson I was staring at the water and seeing my reflection when the memory of being in Mexico came to mind, I was there with my father and the bike members on a holiday. I remembered how hot it was and eating mangos with Tajin and Chinmoy every day, I learned a bit of Spanish during my stay there.
Chiron seemed to notice how that it was something I enjoyed talking about. On other days there wouldn’t be anything to remember and I would walk out of the big house annoyed by it, he wouldn’t say anything but he seems relieved when I mention just small things.
“Why can’t you just tell me what I did?” I asked him last night, my 6th day here and there wasn’t anything to bring up, he was in his wheelchair form looking into the fireplace in his office as I roasted my third marshmallow, Chiron didn’t want me to miss out on the smores as I had these discussions with him at the big house so he would bring them here for me to have.
“It’s only fair if you remember on your own, things happen for a reason”
“At least a hint, please, I don’t have any recollection and I told you everything I knew for the past few days” I was starting to get tired of having to bring up my father without crying, asking if he could at least find out where he was and if he’s safe, but once again the Centaur stayed silent.
“I can’t, because if I do, you wouldn’t believe me”

Those words did stick to me like gorilla glue, the kind I once used to glue a certain biker’s helmet on his head after he tried to hit me. I started listing in my head, all the very small things I could think of when Chiron said that, most of it came from movies, “Did I rob a bank?” he shakes his head, “guess all you want, it won’t be the answer.” I groan from what he said and at my burnt marshmallow.
After the conversation, he gave me a camp schedule to go through after my training with Dionysus. I did my best to understand it but it was never helpful enough other than the blank squares I was able to see as ‘free time’.

This morning, I discovered something shocking about myself, during a long training with Dionysus which was the same as Pollux using vines, only this time I had to learn to fight it off with the whips, “Focus” said the voice, which I grew to hate, although it was sometimes helpful, it mostly had an opinion of its own when it came to fighting.
Pollux had to hit me with a pile of thorns, to which my accidental response was to swipe it off with my hand. Dionysus took notice of that and hit the pause button on his three kids who now stood frozen like a statue.
I asked what happened, but noticed him grab my injured hand gently and look at the small stabs, he didn’t have any emotion in him, he seemed focused on the blood that suddenly began to dry up.
“Well this is new” he finally spoke.
“What?” I looked back at my hand and saw that the wound was healing itself, “d-did you do that?” I tried to not stutter.
“No, don’t be stupid, it appears to be your abilities are finally awakening, however” he picked up the dagger that was on the floor, next to a frozen Uva, “this appears to not be the first injury you self-healed” he then chucks the dagger at me, landing straight onto my shoulder. I screamed in pain, clenching it, cussing at him “What. The–” I gripped the dagger “Pull it out” the voice said, I did, holding back tears when I dropped the blade. Though the pain was numbing me somehow, the new wound was beginning to close on its own as I looked at it, my breathing was back to normal but it felt alarming to witness that I could do that.
“This isn’t the first time, is it Lavender?” Dionysus asked, I shake my head, trying to think back to the fights at the Juvenile, yes I had gotten injured but thought that there would maybe be a faint cut or I just didn’t bruise easily, there weren’t any mirrors in the cell so it’s not like I could see the busted lip or the black eye, I always just thought that they were just there, there wasn’t a memory of this happening when I was younger so this must’ve started 3 years ago at least.
I thought back to my injuries now, like the knife in my leg or cuts on my face and shoulder, the day Percy and his friends broke me out of the Juvenile. I hadn’t been injured like that before or after, yet when I woke up fine, assuming it was the Nectar. Calypso even said that she healed pretty well.

I looked back at the God, he was now writing something down in the journal I’d seen Chiron write in when I gave him the updates of my memories, sometimes he would leave it next to me on his desk and then leave the room, thinking I might want to read it, except I just stare at it, wishing to know what it said, just like the Prison file.
It was surprising enough that no one has even come near me to ask anything about that, Not even the Rachel girl bringing up my father, if anything she and Piper have been ignoring me ever since I yelled at them. I was preparing for the flood of questions and possibly using the whips on them if it got too bad, but like I said nothing happened.
Dionysus shut the notebook and it disappeared from his hands, he looked at me then at the dagger I was holding, “how long have you known this?”
“Today, just right now”
“You know, it’s rare to see that in a demigod, mostly they could heal naturally when they’re near something their abilities are used to, Percy Jackson can heal with water, You on the other hand–don’t need to, this may be Apollos doing” he took the knife away from me. I should have feared that he’d throw it at me again, but instead, I had the memory of Clarisse mentioning the Gods coming to mortals in different forms, perhaps she might be right about a male God being my mother/other father but on a Godly side? Form? Whatever.

Dionysus dismissed me with the lesson for today, unfreezing Pollux, Uva, and Gavin as well, leaving me questioning what he just said. The three continued with their day like normal as though they didn’t know what their father did. I chose to ignore it for now, until I could ask Chiron for an explanation, and try not to purposely find ways to injure myself and recheck if it was all true.

I had Sword fighting after, it was one of the 2 classes I’m not a proud fan of, by far my teacher having to be Percy Jackson. Sword fighting wasn’t a good skill for me as far as I knew (of course).
2 days ago I gathered another flashback of the basics of self-defense, my father taught me along with knife throwing, weapon makeshift out of solid things, how to throw punches with and without using brass knuckles, loading a gun but not shooting it, and hunting. When I told Georgie about that last one she suggested that the Hunters of Artemis would love to have me join.
I haven't gotten injured yet, mostly it was only Percy demonstrating stabbing skills on the dummies made out of hay straws that were wearing Greek armor. But today was different; “Now I need everyone to partner up and try not to kill each other when you use these, they’re sharp, but if you do then you know where I keep the Ambrosia and Nectar” he pointed with his sword at the duffle bag nearby, “Prim you’ll be partnered with me, Now any questions before we get started? No, Bathroom is not a question” Percy said, I stood next to him when he began to instruct the other group how they were supposed to hold their sword for the one-hundredth time.

The fact that I was patterned up with him because of our height, was making me panic, not sure if I can think of a proper excuse to get out of this. He made the first swing at me before I moved away and let him trip on the ground. He quickly got up and tried again but I blocked him with the shield, ducking in place.
“Do the forward pass” he calls out and tries to swipe again, I did but it clanged with his sword, making me yelp as his weight pushed me back, he held his sword with a hanging stance and then lunged. I didn’t take the chance to defend myself when I felt the blade slice my arm. “Ahh” I dropped the sword and unclasped the shield right before Percy could try to give me a weird lemon square bar that I had no interest in eating

I let out a few cuss words before running out of the arena, hearing Percy calling out my name but what good would that make? I ran to find the bathroom, clasping wherever the injury was and waiting. I didn’t mean for it to seem rude to run out like that.
The bathroom had no one in it so it made me safe to not worry, standing by the row of sinks and I turned one on, splashing water onto my face and counting to 10 to calm myself. My eyes were closed to not look at the wound, when I opened my eyes again, seeing my reflection in the mirror, “calm down, it’ll heal” I say through deep breaths and slowly glanced down where the wound once was, now it was just my skin there. “As if nothing happened” I whispered.
The worry began to form in the pit of my stomach, Apollo was the God of the sun, Medicine, and other titles, Will happened to be his son, and he’s a healer, and what Georgie mentioned a few times about certain campers and gossip which I had no interest in. Oh gosh Georgie, she said she might be his demigod child even though she hadn’t been claimed yet. “Perhaps Apollo’s my mother?” I tell myself, I can’t settle the image of my father falling for someone who is male. Then again there were times he used to take me to Pride Parades in the legal states and taught me that there is no judgment for who you love (as long as it was appropriate).

Was he probably trying to give me the hint?

“Oh Gods” I sobbed, crying at the sweet thought of my Dad, now really wishing I could find him and tell him how it doesn’t matter to me, that he’s my father and I love him. And yes I did learn that now most of my new vocabulary is with the use of the Greek Gods.

I stayed in the bathroom for the remainder of the class, I already knew, I’ll have free time to look for activities after, which would be described as a roamed game of hot potato, knowing there was nothing I was good at after the 4th day.
My last option was either an Ancient Greek lecture or Gardening, when I walked out the door, seeing everyone who was at sword fighting, doing their normal task now, not even Percy came up to ask if I was alright.
‘Do they know’ I asked myself, “Probably not.” the voice said.

Gardening with the Demeter children was what I chose, mainly because it was better than holding a book and having the urge to rip the pages out to make another paper frog. Meg handed me a hand shovel and told me to start digging, It started to feel weird to be in the strawberry field.
When my Dad and I were crossing toward a new state with the bikers, we'd always pass by fields with no ends, my favorite was the Burnside Farm in Virginia, rows of Sunflowers grew as tall as Dad’s height. When we would visit fruit fields during the fall seasons, I was only ever allowed to pick one apple, and by that, it was to steal one and eat it before any of the farmers noticed that we didn’t pay for it.

A smile curves through my lips, at the new memory, as I helped Meg and her sisters Miranda, and Katie dig through the dirt, “you seem to be enjoying this” Katie mentions as she takes off her gloves, I look up at them, unsettled about it since I was only having a flashback in my head. “I guess” I watched as the girl put––what looked like–– pumpkin seeds, in the hole she dug and began to seal it, Meg hovered her hand over the dirt and with a popping sound, a large squash appeared in front of them.
“That’s so cool” I gasped.
Meg shrugs “I’ve done bigger but this is good enough” Katie agreed with a nod, “most Demeter kids are blessed with gardening skills, a lot of the stuff here is made by us, along with some help from the Dionysus kids, and Sytrs. Did you do a lot of gardening where you are from?”
I lowered my gaze down at the dirt, “No, but my Dad and I would visit fields during our trips” somehow the mention of my Dad didn’t make me cry this time, “Oh I love road trips! have you visited the Carlsbad Ranch in San Diego? It’s a field of–” Katie was cut off by someone calling out my name, “Prim!” the four of us turned to see Georgie running through the field towards us followed by a loud shell horn being blown.

Meg, Katie, Miranda, and the rest of the Demeter kids all gasped, “they’re here!” Miranda squeals dropping her shovel and running out of the fields, Georgie tried to catch her breath, “T-Thats what…I’ve been trying… to say, they’re here!” she starts to jump up and down, “who?” I was confused.
“The campers from Camp Jupiter!”
Oh, that’s today? I had completely forgotten about that, despite being informed by the Dionysus children about Camp Jupiter and their connection with the Greek gods, they’re the same Gods, just given different names, power, and personalities.
“Come on I want you to meet Lityerese!”
She grabbed my arm but I jerked back, Georgie already knew not to grab me like that but must’ve been out of the small girl’s excitement that she forgot. “Sorry, the force of habit, come on, come on!” Georgie then motions to follow her, I looked back at the Demeter kids and gave them an apology look before going with Georgie, they didn’t seem to care though, they’re focus was now on the squash that seemed to have rotten.

Most of the campers were running in joy towards the entrance where I could see two large greyhound buses coming through. I tried my best to follow Georgie but lost her quickly in the crowd for being short.
I felt someone push past me and then to everyone, a familiar blonde boy was moving everyone to the side “Out of my way!––Move I’m gay!––out, out, let me through!” Will announces as he moves his way through the crowd of campers, I join in trying to get to him so I didn’t have to be searching for Georgie.

The bus door opens and a bunch of people in Purple t-shirts comes pouring out the door, some running to hug other campers and others respectfully giving them greetings. A tall Asian guy with long hair, wearing a purple cape and holding a bow and quiver behind him holding hands comes out a girl with dark skin and brown–almost blonde curly hair. She was also wearing the same cape with badges around her purple shirt.
I stopped walking and stared over at the girl, aside from her being pretty, there was something about her that promptly made the air strongly smell like roses.

“You're here!” Will chants running up to both the girl and guy and bringing them into a tight hug, “The longest 6 months ever” the guy says, “I know! Wow, you did commit and grew your hair out” Will began to look around and his face grew even sadder, “Wait where’s Nico? I thought he was coming with you guys?”

Behind Will’s shadow appeared a short boy with pale skin and wearing all-black that matched his shoulder-length hair, “Right behind you” he says.
That weird feeling came to me again when seeing the boy, just like when seeing the girl, the smell of roses only became stronger around me.
Will squealed and threw his arms around his boyfriend then started kissing him all over his face, “it’s only been 2 weeks, you couldn’t have missed me this much?” the boy said trying to move away from Will’s attack kisses, although Will stopped when his eyes met mines, “Oh you guys, I’d like you to meet someone” he tells the three of them while waving over for me to come close, I did. “Frank, Hazel, Nico, This is Prim Evans, the new demigod” Will sounded proud to say but the smiles of both Nico and Hazel dropped when they faced me directly in a state of shock.

I was puzzled by the way they reacted, it was as though they were scared of me.

Chapter Text

Another girl wearing the purple shirt walked over, she had pink stripes in her hair that was tied up in a ponytail, “Will! It’s so good to see you again!” she brings him into a hug, “Lavinia!” the girl took notice of me and smiled, “and whos this tall glass of water?”
“Prim Evans” I introduced myself, a little unsure what to say about her comment, of course, it’s often the campers have made compliment me over how pretty I am but quickly back away after telling them my age, an example would be when Pollux asked if I liked wine and I had to tell him I’m not of age, he was shocked because I look much older, well that’s what prison does to you, but I never told him that.

“Lavinia Asimov, I suspect you are new to the camp, right? No worries, we got a newbie too!” Lavinia began to look around before putting her fingers to her lips and whistling out, “Teddy! Front and center!” a boy (or I think it’s a boy) no younger than my age, came running towards Lavinia holding a crossbow, shield, and clipboard.
“This is Teddy Felson, Spawn of Invidia, or in this case Nemesis since we’re in the Greek territory” The girl patted the boy on the back, he had dark red hair and freckles, for a second I would’ve mistaken him as Rumpelstiltskin from the Shrek movie.
“Hi” Teddy squeaked trying to look away when he met my eyes. I waved, ‘Well at least he was claimed’.
“Lavinia is our Centurion at the 12 legions over at Camp Jupiter, her job is to make sure our campers are directed with their task” the Asian guy–Frank mentions, the sight of Hazel and Nico had suddenly disappeared (to which I hadn’t realized), leaving just him and Will standing there.
“Say, why don’t I give you a tour of the campers, It’ll be fun” The pink stripe-headed girl tried to wrap her arm around mine in a friendly way, but once more, I flinched at the touch, instead, Lavinia kept herself just near me as she introduced each kid while also calling out for Teddy to take attendance to make sure no one was left behind.
In my honesty, I thought that a majority of the Purple campers were greeting me as any nice person would some just stared at me weirdly, and of course, they would.

We passed a red Harpy who was muttering to herself and counting the feathers around her arms, “that’s Ella the harpy, our prophecy teller”
“You mean oracle?”
“No, just prophecy teller, she had once read the lost Sibylline books that outline prophecies were written out and she memorized them to perfection” Lavinia continued to show me around to find more Purple campers. “I never got to ask but whos your Godly parent?”
“Uh I’m not claimed yet” I clear my throat, “But I might be Apollo’s”

She looked at me “hmmm, that’s odd, I’ve met Apollo, long story, but I don’t think he’d wait this long to claim a child unless you’re in Georgie’s situation, the Gods are supposed to claim their children the first day, it was part of the agreement they had with Percy Jackson,” she began to fidget with the necklace around her neck, I didn’t get to see what it was before she put it back under her shirt.
“What about you? Who’s your–” “Terpsichore, one of the nine Muses” she said so quickly that it made me not want to ask any more of that topic.
The girl started fidgeting with the necklace again before letting it go and sighing.
It was the star of David, she’s Jewish?
“Sorry, it’s just, I met my mother a while back and we argued over my acceptance letter to Julliard, instead of going to the one in New Rome just like everyone else is doing, I don’t want to talk about it right now” she takes a deep breath before bringing back her happy face and blocking out anything I wanted to ask.

“Anyways I think that’s the end of introducing you to the comrades, Ella, Tyson, over here!” she waves her arms around to catch the Harpies' attention, the person next to her turned around as well to see, he was large and covered in scripted tattoos in different fonts.
What caught my attention was the fact that the person had only one eye in the center of his face where two should’ve been.
“I-is that a Cyclops?” I asked Lavinia, “yep, that’s Tyson, Percy Jackson’s half-brother, they’re both sons of Neptune”
“Neptune? As in Poseidon?”
“Yeah that, originally Greek although he and Ella live with us”
I began to wonder if I should’ve attended the Ancient Greek lecture class more if it hadn’t been for the fact that it’s the number one class I hated along with Sword fighting.
I could only remember the story my father said about Cyclopes being a lot bigger, evil, and eating any humans who would come near them, but by the sight of this Tyson guy, he didn’t look even the slightest evil, or could even eat a human.

“Ella, Tyson, this is Prim, Camp Halfbloods newbie”
“Hello,” the Cyclops said with a smile, the harpy just waved and stared through me while tilting her head to the side, “Ella must find Rachel right now” Ella stated then walked away with Tyson behind her.
From a distance, I saw Percy walking by to greet the two, along with Annabeth and Rachel following behind. Something was wrong but I couldn’t figure out why? Ella whispered something in Rachel’s ear and then pointed in my direction, Rachel quickly put the harpy’s claw-like hand down and said something that mouthed the words “Do not point at her.”
My first thought was if they were talking about me but the thought was brushed away when I remembered how Chiron said that no one would say anything about it, then again, Rachel is an Oracle and could see through people, what if she already informed the other camp out of bitterness for what I did the other night?

Perhaps that’s why they’re being nice to me?

“No of course not, they’d be afraid of you” the voice spoke, ‘Stop it please’.

“I’m going to go use the bathroom, I’ll see you around,” I told Lavinia and quickly saw my way out of the crowd of campers.
Near the cabins were some campers building their tents outside of the nearby cabins, I found Georgie talking to another purple shirt guy wearing a white coat who looked to be around 17–maybe–18 years old, they were both laughing as he handed her a box filled with jars that seemed to glow with every movement. “Prim! this is Pranjal, Son of Asclepius, Pranjal this is Prim the unclaimed newbie” Georgie introduces, holding the box tightly to her chest, I glanced over at the guy again. This time taking notice that he looked South Asian–but I hope I’m wrong, he had the same brown skin as my father, which caught a golden shine around the sunlight.

“H-hi” I looked away, praying that I wouldn’t cry. “I thought you were looking for Lityrese, Georgie?”
“I was but then Frank told me that he’s back in New Rome finishing his internship with Terminus.” She rolled her eyes, “But Pranjal was telling me about his trip, Look! he even brought everyone back these souvenirs'' Georgie says, excitedly showing me the basket of jars “what is it?” I asked, looking closely, at the jars had small pattern designs around them “spices and seeds from my families shop, my uncle got this type of Saffron…” Pranjal held up a small jar that had a golden cap, “from Kashmir, one of the most well-known fields in the country”

I faced him wide-eyed, “Wait, Kashmir? As in India? are you Indian?”
“Canadian actually, but my mom is from India, so half-ish” he chuckles.
Suddenly it became clear, an image I thought back at the birthday lunches at Indian restaurants with my Dad, the stories, the lectures, and asking him why he loves Hindu Mythology so much, “because Hinduism originated from India, and that’s where our blood lies, beta, we carry it everywhere we go” he said and pointed at my heart with a warm smile.

Holy shit, I’m Indian.
I quickly wiped the tears from my face, feeling a rush of joy to be feeling this type of way, “I-I’m half Indian too” I say softly, looking at Georgie and then at Pranjal, “Really? Oh, that’s cool, which part? Wait let me guess, what’s your last name?”
“Evans”
Pranjal gave me an odd look, “that’s more of an English one” I now had to stay quiet, questioning if I was right or not about this.

I wanted to pull out the red bracelet I kept in my pocket but the sound of the conch shell blew again, only this time it was the dinner one, Georgie seemed to have read my expression, cause she then asked Pranjal to repeat what he told her again so that I could hear the story of his summer trip to India while the three of us went to the Mess Hall.
Georgie had started to adjust to my features whenever I felt uncomfortable in a situation.
Pranjal went on about him and his cousins pulling a prank on one of his Aunts, then switching the topic to when he helped his grandmother deliver a baby goat, “That sounds amazing, what else?” I could listen to this for hours if I could, for it hadn’t been that someone from the distance was staring at me.
A cold stare was coming from the left side of the now many tables that were put around like a maze, I saw that it was coming from the Hades table but no one happens to be looking at me. Will was sitting there instead of being with his siblings at their table, he was discussing something with Hazel, and Frank who happened to be seated next to her, both of the back of their heads were towards me, except for the pale boy, Nico, he was talking to Meg who looked to have been in a deep conversation with him. Meg’s eyes met mine and the serious look on her face told Nico to do the same as well he turned his head over to where they were both now staring directly toward me, I didn’t understand why but something about the way Nico stares made it feel like he was trying to enter into my mind.

Luckily the sound of someone tapping their glass took over my attention and everyone went silent to hear what Chiron had to say; he had a bright smile on his face excited to deliver some good news.
“Campers, Roman Guest, I thank you all for coming today, as you may know, tomorrow we have an exciting schedule of activities leading up to our Chariot race, hosted by the children of Iris” he gestures over to the table where Cabin 14 had all of the Goddesses kids waving and smiling, “and secondly I want to do the honors of announcing the Engagement to two very important people here with us” the campers all began to whisper and mutter about who he must be talking about, “I would like for everyone to Congratulate, Mr. Grover Underwood and his now Fiancee, Juniper, on their engagement!”
Grover and Juniper stood up from their seats as the campers, both Greek and Roman, began to cheer for them, Percy and Annabeth were the first to run up towards Sytr and hug him, then to Juniper.

“Wait it’s Tomorrow!?” Connor choked on his drumstick, and the three of us looked at him. I rolled my eyes, I have gotten used to the Stoll brothers by now with their endless pranks. I had woken up the other morning with their snake wrapped around my neck, while Georgie threatened them to take it off before she used her butterfly knife to kill it. An hour later they were apologizing with tears on their faces. I found that odd like they both just suddenly look to be on a turn of the moon.
“Yes it’s tomorrow, we spoke about it this morning,” another cabin member named Lana says. Connor looked over at his brother, and as if on cue; they dropped their forks and quickly made a run for it into their cabin, “they always wait until the last minute, those two” Cecil shakes his head.

“Whats’ last minute?” I asked, “the Chariot race we’re going to have tomorrow, silly” Lana said, “Travis has the new Chariot under his bed that our dad gave us for the cabin to share, but since he’s the oldest he gets to say what would be the rules and who gets to use it” her voice sounded bitter when saying that but she quickly finished her bowl and left the table to go congratulate the happy couple at the long line that was forming.
“How do you fit a Chariot under a bed?” that was my only question, refreshing in my memory that everyone’s bunk looked the same at Cabin 11, “Oh that’s easy it’s–” Georgie was about to explain when something heavy hits me in the head, a green Apple landed on the table.
“Nico don’t!–” The pale boy with his cold stare was walking up to the Hermes table where I sat, he had a bowl of fruit in one hand and a banana in the other, before he started throwing it at me, then a plum, an orange, a whole vine of grapes were being thrown at only to my direction. What the hell?

Will was behind Nico, trying to hold him back as his boyfriend kept aggressively throwing whatever was in the bowl.
“Oh my Gods, what is wrong with you Di Angelo!” Georgie immediately took out her butterfly knife and stood in front of me while I tried to move away from the table, “Nico stop it, leave her alone!” Will shouts as he was now tightening his grip on Nico Di Angelo's wrist while Frank held the boy back.
Almost everyone’s attention was now on us seeing this chaos happen, “Guys look!” someone shouts, it came from the Hebe table that was behind me, everyone looked down at the pile of fruits that were underneath my blue converse. I looked down at the ground from where the piles of fruit once were had now started to disintegrate around me. Just like the squash from earlier.
Nico had a deep look that read fear and regret of what he did, the only reaction that matched his, happened to be Hazel.

“I knew it!” Meg calls out, “She’s a child of Hades! That’s why it’s taking her so long to be claimed!”
Most of them were still staring at me but they gasped, I hadn’t moved from where I was standing, afraid of what might happen if I did. The fruits were now rotten but that doesn’t explain what just happened, especially why. Some of the Cloven Elder Sytrs began to push everyone away from the Mess hall to go back to their cabins and tents for the Camp Jupiter members. Dionysus began to inform everyone that they should go to bed now and because of Nico’s behavior, there would be no campfire tonight for anyone, which many of the campers groaned about.
Chiron came up to where the mess was, “What do you have to say for yourself Mr. Di Angelo” he looked over at Nico who didn’t make eye contact with the Centaur.
“She isn’t one of them, Chiron, this explains nothing” Georgie came into defense turning to look at me, “I know you’re not a Hades kid”
I shake my head “No, no, I can’t be, I already have a father, it can’t be Hades!” more eyes were on me now, and mutters began to fill my ears from the campers who were still nearby. I wanted to tell them that I might be Apollos, but something was holding back my voice to say it.

“Pensavi che non avrei saputo cosa significasse, Meg mi ha detto quello che tutti voi sospettavate di quella ragazza!” Nico began to speak in a language I didn’t understand, it sounds almost like Spanish but I only knew very little of that. Nico then turned to face Hazel who looked like she didn’t want to be part of this conversation “Hazel dite loro cosa è successo anche voi c'eri” Will lets go of Nico’s wrist and placed his hands on his shoulders, “Nico your speaking in Italian, calm down” but the boy didn’t seem to calm down when he then slipped out of Franks grasp then points at me while looking at Chiron, “È una figlia degli inferi, lo sento Chirone non va bene, non va bene!”
“That’s enough! Nico you either apologize to her or I’m putting you on stable duty tomorrow morning!” Chiron snapped which made Georgie and I jolt at the sound of his angered voice, but Nico didn’t say anything else.
“Can someone tell me what he’s saying I don’t speak Olive Garden!” someone shouts from a distance, I think it was an Ares child, it sounded like one.

“Georgina, would you take Prim back to Cabin 11,” Grover says suddenly appearing where we were, Georgie obliged and took me away from the Mess Hall, before we left I noticed that the only fruit that didn’t rot was a few steps away from me, I didn’t know what occurred to me to pick it up but I did the next best thing which was to throw it at Nico Di Angelo, landing on the left side of his face. He didn’t react to the force of it hitting him, as though he knew that I was going to do it.
The sound of Chiron’s voice was fading from the distance as we left to head back to the cabin. The Hermes/Mercury kids were all cramped into the cabin, none of them had their tents outside, most had their sleeping bags on the floor and two of them had theirs hung on the wall while the other was in the back of the door when I closed it behind me.
The campers seemed oddly quiet, a few had lowered their voices when I passed by them though it was still pretty audible,
“do you think she’s the daughter of Hades”
“She’s got underworld powers”
“Nah I’m betting 50 on Hecate”
“Looks like she’s not Zeus”

I kept telling myself mentally to ignore them and lay in bed, preferring to not bother with getting changed.
It didn’t seem to matter what Nico Di Angelo might have said, yes what he did was pretty stupid but would it kill him to just talk to me or ask who my Godly parent just like Lavinia asked? I would’ve given him the same answer, ‘I don't know’ or ‘I’m unclaimed’.

He did mention Meg in the conversation, although that could just mean anything else in another language and not that he was talking to her just a few minutes ago before the chaos. I did wonder, however.
If the squash that rotted earlier had been me or not? Was Meg just talking nonsense or did something else happen in those few seconds I stood up to follow Georgie?
Just earlier today I found out that I could heal myself, Dionysus said that I’m probably Apollos. ‘I have to be Apollo’s’ I mouth to myself facing the wall as I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

About a month ago Nico woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, there was this feeling inside him that felt like pain, and terror, similar to guilt. He wasn’t sure what it was, considering that it wasn’t the everlasting side effects he’s had since coming back from Tartarus 3 years ago with his boyfriend Will Solace (long story).

He tried the breathing method Sally Jackson taught him a while back whenever he’d experience a difficult emotion like this, but tonight wasn’t that, it wasn’t cold but it gave off a scent of burnt toast. The skylight window that was on top of the cabin, indicating no sunlight, which means that it was still dusk outside, Nico reached over where his lamp was on the bedside table to turn it on. The feeling still hasn’t gone away, it was one thing to feel the energy of the dead around him, but it was also another if he was feeling something different, it was like a change.
A turn of events? No. He’s had that already for Gods knows how long.

Nico got up from the bed and went over to the water dispenser he had in the cabin, a gift from Will on their 2nd anniversary. “As long as you’re hydrated then that would be the least of my worries,” he told him when Nico opened the gift. He chuckles at the memory, suddenly the burnt feeling went away.
The most he could describe it was as though he was just caught doing something wrong, something that might hurt him, that is hurting him. “Dad” he whispers under his breath, walking toward the shrine of Hades in the corner of the room, “Are you trying to contact me?” he knelt at the small table, it was decorated with bones and small jewels, the never-ending candle in the middle wasn’t flickering around which only meant that no spirits were near, Nico found it unsettling.
He hadn’t spoken to his father from the shrine since after the last encounter with him in person after the Tartarus trip, 3 years ago at a dinner that ended with an argument and both Nico and Hazel given an awful curse that they refuse to apologize for receiving, and would rather live off with it.
Nico still did his prayers and asked for guidance from Hades but tonight felt different for it was severe.
After a few minutes he went back to bed, reaching over to the nightstand and picking up his Walkman he got for Christmas, the demigods weren’t allowed modern technology due to it being easier for the monsters to track them down, but the Hephaestus cabin spent an amount of time to create vintage items to be useful for them, Will picked most of the music for Nico and created a mixed cassette tape for him, he slipped on his headphones and closed his eyes, hoping to go back to sleep with the music.

By the third day, Nico started waking up with the unbearable pains again, only it hadn’t gotten stronger but it felt like it every time he woke up.

“Come on, spill, what’s wrong?” Will asked him, he was helping him in the infirmary by sorting out new medical supplies with his sister Kayla, “What?” Nico looks up at him blinking away his deprivement “Don’t ‘what’ me, You’ve been dazing out into the distance for the past few days, at first I thought you were just doing all-nighters and reading those comic books Paul gave you, but I’m starting to see that it’s not, are you okay? Do I need to get Mr. D?” Will’s voice gave a sound of worry, this was what got Nico’s attention, Mr. D, (Dionysus) was their Camp Director and Council, he helped Nico with the trauma he had after Jason Grace's death and the aftermath from Tartarus. Overall a great help.

As much as he felt like it would be a good idea to maybe tell Dionysus about the pain attacks, he knew something in him was forcing him not to tell anyone, that it was not time yet.
“No I’ll be fine, I think my dad is trying to contact me, but I don’t know why he’s not doing so” Nico looked down at his hands, they were so pale, not long ago he once had bright olive skin just like his sister Bianca, but now no amount of sunlight was he ever going to get that normal tone back. Even being around Will so much only blinds him with his boyfriend’s sun-kissed hair and perfect tan.
Will leaned down to kiss him on the forehead, his method of checking Nico’s temperature, “Hmm, No fever then?”
“Will I’m fine, trust me”
He sighs “I guess you're right then, I’ve been feeling a little off too, probably because of what Chiron said about the newbies being put on hold, poor kids won’t be coming this summer”
“What?” Nico gave a confused look, “The new demigods are on hold?”

They both have been selected to be the camp leaders for the newcomers during the summer last year but hearing what Will said made Nico become fully awakened, “I overheard him talking to the Cloven Elders about it, they’ll most likely come in after winter solstice the least” Kayla states, unboxing another box of bandages. It was mostly the Sytrs job to retrieve the newcomers and bring them to camp, although he remembers that a few of the older campers were working along with them to help out as well, Percy was one of them, having finished College with a degree in Demigod Social Works.
“Why?”
She shrugs “I don’t know but it probably has to do with Piper, Lou Ellen, Leo, and Calypso sneaking off a few weeks ago to help Percy and Grover, something about an important mission”
Nico slouched back onto his chair, he hadn’t noticed that Percy and Grover haven’t arrived back from Camp Jupiter, since he mostly never goes on a quest without his girlfriend Annabeth although she came here a week early to help with the Athena cabin’s new construction project, so Nico’s seen her all around the camp, but not with Percy.
“Anything else?” Will asked his sister, she shakes her head, “No, nothing else.”

Another week went by and no news from Percy or Grover, at least to what Nico was aware of, beginning to zone out during the days now. Throughout dinner he couldn’t stop thinking about the new demigods not arriving now that the seasonal campers arrived that day, it just felt weird to not see any new faces when greeting everyone who came through the plane and vans shuttle, most were the new college graduates and older campers who came back to do their summer cabin council.

He had questions floating around his head that made him want to find Rachel Dare so she could explain, she happens to be the Camp’s Oracle and recently arrived back from her art school in Paris. However, Nico promised himself to not get involved in other people’s quests anymore unless it involved him, (a much longer story).

“Would you stop that!” Will says, surprisingly the comment wasn’t directed at Nico, but rather to Clovis who was sitting with them along with 2 of his siblings from the Hypnos Cabin, they all didn’t look like themselves, “I can’t help it, I want to make sure I’m still alive right now?” Clovis says he had two fingers on the side of his neck while looking at Wills wrist watch, “I’ll let you know when your dead, now eat your mash potatoes” Will took off his watch and put it in his pocket.

“Why are you checking your pulse?” Nico asked the boy, he hadn’t noticed that the Hypnos children all had dark circles under their eyes until Clovis looked at him, “Hello, We haven’t slept for like–what nearly 2 weeks, it’s been chaos!”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, we just want some sleep man–nothing helps,” Fabian, another son of Hypnos says taking a bite from his pizza, “it’s worse with Rachel, look at her” he points behind him.

Nico hadn’t seen Rachel clearly when she arrived, though Fabian was right, she didn’t look as healthy as Nico or the Hypnos kids, her face was pale and the dark circles under her eyes only matched theirs. “Is this happening to everyone?” Nico asked, looking around to see the other campers, “Nah just us, although Lisa and Micah’s magic isn’t working too well either, and the Hermes kids are a lot moodier but I think that’s normal” the other kid explains, Kyler.
“Oh, Gods I think I’m having a panic attack” Fabian started hyperventilating, fanning his face with his hands so that his makeup doesn’t smear off, “use the breathing method,” Will told him. He does, breathing in and out, but right in front of Will’s younger brother Yan who covered his face in disgust “Ew breathe that way!” he points to the other side.

Ever since Nico chose to stay at the camp after the war with Gaia, nearly 5 years ago, he’s not once seen this type of scenery with the closest kids he could relate to, “do you think the same thing is happening at Camp Jupiter?” the concern shown in Nico’s voice, Will put his hand on his shoulder, “I’m sure everything’s alright with them if you want we could send Hazel an Iris message later after dinner?”
On the other side of the country in San Francisco, California, was Camp Jupiter, another camp where the Greek Gods presented themselves in their Roman form, over there also happened to be Nico's other sister, Hazel Levesque, who's the camp’s Praetor. If things were happening at Camp HalfBlood then it’s also happening over there, perhaps she too is experiencing the same pain attacks he’s had?

Later that night Hazel didn’t answer his Iris Message which concerned Nico more, he tried to hide from Will the emotion, knowing that it was not easy to explain it yet, and he’ll most likely want to isolate himself in his cabin but knowing the last time he did that, Will stole an axe from the Ares cabin and broke down the door.
“Hey it’s alright, we’ll try tomorrow first thing in the afternoon,” Will told him after the campfire, Nico skipped the smores and singalong, going right to his cabin to sleep.

He dreamt he was in a room, it was blurry but he made out the four gray walls around him, there was very little light but he felt almost trapped in there, a faint sound of humming came through the room but he couldn’t see who was there, the humming was a melody he couldn’t hear well even though it sounded like it was calming whoever was doing it. The dream quickly shifts to him falling, not the normal kind of fall that he could instantly jolt awake from, no Nico was still falling only then landing somewhere where he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t see, but the pain was there–becoming worse, stomping on him like he hadn’t already experienced death multiple times, it was like a charlie-horse but for his lungs.

In an instant he woke up, catching his breath, he got up from his bed but tripped on the nightstand, stubbing his foot, “Ahh Styx!” He cursed then stumbled into his bathroom, turning on the faucet, he splashed his face with water and tried the breathing method once more, “one”––inhale, “two”––exhale, “three”––inhale, he didn’t make it to four before breaking down on the floor, “make it stop, make it stop” he whispered curling into a ball.
“D-dad… help me!” he tried to pray between sobs, a warm breeze blew through him, he thought it was in his head but heard the door of his cabin shut. Nico managed to crawl out of the bathroom to his room but he saw no one there, making it to his bed, he saw that something was on top of his pillow.

A small leather book that had designs around it, with gold letters on the front of it, he recognized what it was, he grew up in Venice, Italy.
Everyone had one of these, The Holy Bible. “What the–” he cuts himself off when the pain hits him again. ‘Why would my father send me this?’ Nico thought to himself, taking small breaths he opened it, seeing how there was something written in it, a language he’s never seen before but underneath was written the numbers 1868.
It’s been years/decades since he’s read this book, living in a strict Catholic household with his mother and her family, he read the Italian version but the stories were the same when translated into English, surely Hazel would know that. “Hazel” he mutters, realizing that this meant a sign from his father, perhaps she too is probably feeling his pain.

The ache started fading away which Nico took as his signal to run to his closet, it was a habit to keep a duffle bag with extra clothes, money, snacks, and necessities, for every demigod because you never know if you’re going on a quest, he stuffed the book and Walkman in it, then took out a pen and paper to write a note down for Will and Chiron to read in the morning when they don’t find him.
Nico took another deep breath before putting the folded paper on his bed and turning off the lights in the cabin, shadow traveling to San Fransico.

Chapter Text

Nico:

He found himself succeeding when he saw her room, she looked to be tossing and turning in her sleep enough that her bonnet fell off, ‘oh no’ he thought, seeing her beginning to groan and shake, he tried waking her up, hoping she would.

Just like what happened to him, Hazel jolted awake screaming, “You're having them too” he says, not realizing that he had also scared her when she turned to see him there.
“N-Nico” she started to sob, reaching over to hug him, he held her, wishing she wasn’t experiencing this, “Oh Gods, Nico–”
“Shhh” he cooed rubbing her back, he too could feel the tears coming through him “I’m right here, your safe.”
After Hazel calmed down, he sat next to her on the bed, “What are you doing here, I thought you were back at Long Island”
“I needed to come and find you, I had to make sure you were safe, there’s been something going on with the campers”
“What? What happened?”
Nico looked down at the floor, “it’s mostly happening to Rachel and the Hypnos kids, Hecates as well, although Kyler Thomas made a joke about the Hermes cabin” he chuckled lightly. “I’m not sure if they’re having the same dreams as I have, but they aren’t doing well either, Lisa and Micah’s magic isn’t working. I tried Iris Messaging you, but you didn’t answer, I was worried.”

Hazel bit the bottom of her lip, “You had bad timing, but to tell you the truth I thought Dad was trying to reach out during the first few nights” she tells him, “yesterday Lavinia told me that Adeline, hadn’t slept in the past 2 weeks, I’m not so sure about Jessica and Tamera… the Lares aren’t any help they all disappeared so suddenly last week” Nico nodded, “so something is happening” he sighed.

“I’m sorry, I knew I should’ve told you before but, something kept telling me that it wasn’t the right time” Hazel shook her head, “I couldn’t even tell Frank”
“I couldn’t tell Will, it feels like something holding me back” he put a hand to his chest, afraid that the ache could come back, “Kayla told me Chiron wasn’t going to allow the new campers to come this summer until after winter solstice, something about Percy and Grover and a mission they’re doing”
“What do you think it is?”
“I’m not sure, I didn’t want to ask Rachel because of the promise I made to myself”
“Nico you know, you shouldn’t have done that”
“And that’s why I’m here, I won’t need to bring myself to know what Prophecy it was, I’ll just stay here until everything settles down”
“Does Will know?” he shook his head, “not yet, I left a note on my bed”
Hazel lightly shoves him to which he does the same, playfully.
“You do know that the camp is going on their summer trip to the East at the end of the month right?”
Nico closed his eyes, “Styx” that made his sister laugh, “Perhaps we could ask Ella at the bookstore about this, although I have to lead the morning later, but you're welcome to sleep on the floor if you want?” she motioned her hand to the floor, Nico smiled, “thanks, we’ll talk more about this tomorrow.” He reached into his bag and took out the Walkman, placing the headphones on Hazel's ears, “this will help you” he says letting her listen to the mixtape that helped him before, he then used his duffle bag as a pillow and fell into another deep sleep, this time he knew they both would feel safe tonight.

~*~

By morning they both went to the dining pavilion where Frank was talking to Lavinia, both had new hairstyles since the last time Nico saw them, and next to the two was a young red-headed boy Nico didn’t recognize. “Is that Nico?” Lavinia said seeing that he was coming towards them, “Hey” he waved, the girl with Pink stripes in her hair squealed and went up to hug him, he tried not to push her away, he didn’t like any physical contact except for Will and Hazel, but Lavinia’s hugs were always a bit too tight to escape from.
“What are you doing here? I thought we weren’t going to see you until the end of the month for the summer visit?”
“Ambassador things, no worries,” Hazel said, they both took a seat, “this is Teddy, our newbie” Frank introduce “pronouns He/They, at least for now” Teddy smiled, their voice cracked very faintly which lead Nico to recognize the testosterone change that was going through the kid, it was normal to see that back at Camp HalfBlood, often Will gave instructions to the campers who were transitioning.
“The child of Invidia,” Lavinia informs him sitting back down, “I’ll be in charge of conducting them as my assistant since Adeline is um…” her eyes stared over to the daughter of Somonus who was at the other side of the pavilion, she had blue hair and looked much worse than the children of Hypnos back at Camp Halfblood.

Nico had expected the Iris Message from Will, however, he didn’t expect it after a Roman Bath, especially when it was at the same time Frank was there, thank the Gods they were both already dressed.
“Hey Will–”
“A FREAKEN LETTER! DI ANGELO!” Will looked almost ready to jump into the water mist and strangle Nico.
“Dear Chiron, Please excuse my sudden disappearance, I have an ambassador thing to do at Camp Jupiter, I’ll be back by the end of the month, P.S. Tell Will I’ll be fine! Explain yourself Niccolo!” he held up the letter. Nico shuttered at the mention of his full name.
“I’m going to leave you two to discuss that,” Frank said stepping aside to get to the door, Will turned to see him, “Oh hey there Frank!”

“Will, I can explain” Nico sighed, “Oh really, then tell me why my boyfriend shadowed traveled to the other side of the country in the middle of the night and is having a Roman bath with his sister’s boyfriend?”
“Don’t say it like that, you just had the bad timing to IM” Nico felt his cheeks turn red. “You know you could’ve at least told me, I would’ve gone with you, we’ve been through this Nico” there was hurt in Will’s words that seemed to only make Nico feel guilty, and yes Will is right about that, ever since Tartarus they both agreed to not hide anything from each other. “I’m sorry, I truly am Will, but I swear, I had to know if the same thing is happening here, I had to find Hazel to see if it was true, and it is. I’ll let you know what’s been happening when I get more infromation''

Will closed his eyes, putting his lips into a thin line, “Styx” he cussed, taking a deep breath, “alright, take your time, but I want updates, doctors orders Nico” his tone was serious yet playful, “Sure, in the meantime I’ll let you know if anything else happens”
“Give Hazel and Frank a hug for me, I love you”
The mist had faded off, Nico sighed in relief, glad that he got that part out of the way.

He returned over to the camps guest house, (after a long discussion with Terminus, the God of Boundaries, finding out Nico was in Hazel’s room last night) he went through his bag to make sure he had everything in there, finding the Bible there, he studied it a little more, now that it was daylight outside, it was in perfect condition despite being old. He meant to tell Hazel about it appearing in his room, but it was rather a very topic for later. He needed to find a way to bring it up, instead, he just slipped it into the pocket of his leather jacket and went on with his day to help with anything he could.

***
Hazel:

After Hazel’s morning rounds, she locked her arm with Nico’s and made their way to New Rome, a small town for Roman demigods and legacies. She knew that the last time Nico had been here, he was with Will during Easter last year, nothing much has changed other than the new statue fountain of their Ex Praetor; Jason Grace that Hazel made out of Gold with water pouring on the sides.
And some of Annabeth's architectural work when she was studying at New Rome University.

“I just don’t want to be bugging in” Nico sighs, his walking now slowed down.
“Don’t think of it as bugging in, more like, wondering” she tells him as they pass the university where she was currently attending her 2nd year there.
“Wondering if what’s causing all of us to experience these night terrors?”
“Exactly”
“Hazel that’s still bugging” Nico rolled his eyes,
“Fine then, I’ll go ask and you just stand there and look pretty”
“But–”
“Come on–after all, I’m buying lunch”
“Fine” She knew he could never say no to a free lunch.

They made their way to Ella and Tyson’s bookshop; “Cyclops Books and Prophecies and also an Orange Cat” It was an odd title to the shop but no one minds it.
Stepping into the bookstore, they were greeted right away by a smiling Tyson, “Hi, welcome in!” he cheered, “Hey Tyson, is Ella here?” Hazel asked, “Yes, Upstairs” he points to the ceiling where a hole the size of a harpy would fit. Tyson however leaned in to try and whisper to them but failed to make it sound like he was lowering his voice, “Ella hasn’t been doing well, she keeps saying the same words over and over again”
Suddenly a crash came from the upstairs floor, which caused Tyson to duck under the counter desk and grab the Orange cat who was next to him, Aristophanes, to put on top of his head.

“Thank you, Tyson, We’ll go see her” Nico gave him a small smile, which is something Hazel doesn’t see him do very often to anyone. They both made their way upstairs, despite it being clean downstairs, it was the opposite when they got to the top, books were shredded everywhere with some feathers flowing around.
“Ella?” Hazel said calling out for the Harpy, they heard muttering coming from behind a bookshelf.
“The sun is to rise with the center of the moon. Reverse Solar Eclipse, the Solar Eclipse? No––Total Eclipse from the heart by Bonnie Tyler”
Hazel took a few steps towards the Harpy, Ella was rocking back and forth, her hair looked to be netted like a nest even her eyes looked crusted as though she too hadn’t been sleeping “Ella?” Hazel gently placed her hand on Ella's shoulder.

The Harpy stopped shaking and looked up at them, “Over the creation of the Gods, a drop of their life creation more powerful than the Gods themselves–” Ella grabbed Hazel by the wrist, “No Prophecy for the children of the underworld, only for one, only a death. Only Death, rock band played by lead singer Kalvin Goot 1999, Coachella” she let go of Hazel then looked at Nico.
“Ella, what do you mean?” he asked.
“What do you mean by Justin Bieber–”
“No–Ella listen, we need to ask you something, perhaps you might know what’s going on, the Hypnos, and Hades children are experiencing this type of problem?”
“And Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Hecate and Hermes children–oh no–only back and forth for them, two moods like two faces, yep” Ella nods her head then shook her wings around making another flock of feathers fly around. “So you know what’s going on?” Hazel asked
“Yes, Ella knows what’s going on, they know what’s going on”
“Then can you tell us what’s happening?” she shakes her head, “Ella must find Rachel, Tyson, and Ella are going on the summer trip with the camp to Long Island, we signed the sign-up sheet with everyone else, Gwen, Bailey, Jonathan, Lola, Teddy–”
“Okay Ella, that’s good you and Tyson are coming with us, but why do you want to find Rachel?” Hazel tried to put the words calmly, wishing she could charm speak.
“To confirm the news for Percy Jackson and Grover Underwoods’ return, The wrath will step foot on the campground, may challenge the descendants of all around itself”
Nico’s eyes widen, “Wait–So what’s happening right now at both camps is connected to Percy and Grovers’ quest?”
Ella began to pick on her feathers again, “Not a quest, just rescue, bad timing, oh they are mad, Yep, Yep, Good memories only, find the Gemini to meet the flowers– Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, More than 5 million copies sold” she then blinked, she was no longer shaking, her eyes didn’t seem to look dialed anymore as if she woke up from a deep sleep, the harpy stood up and looked at herself in the mirror that was nearby, “You may go now, Ella needs a bath.”

“What did she mean by ‘meet the Flowers?’” Nico couldn’t stop asking Hazel the multiple questions she didn’t have the answer to, sometimes it was not easy to understand an answer from Ella, let alone any Prophacey she would give. Hazel watched him take a bite from his veggie burger, they were eating at a nearby Roman cafe, “I’m trying to process it as well, she said that it’s all connected, well then we’ll just wait until we visit the camp”
“But that’s 2 weeks from now” he groaned, she knew what he felt, she too really didn’t want to go through another week and a half of terror sleep.
“Well, then your glad enough to go back to camp Halfblood if you want?” She suggested, “No, I’m not leaving you to deal with those night aches alone, I’ll go back to camp with the rest of the Romans like I already planned to” his tone was serious, Hazel reached over and placed her hand on top of his, “Alright then, you and I will manage, in the meantime, we can discuss what we can solve right now” she looked into his eyes, they were dark like Obsidian, with very little to shine through, compared to her gold ones.

Nico looked down at his plate, “Last night before I came here, I had those aches, it was so painful that I prayed to Hades, and this–” He took out a black book from his pocket and showed it to her, Hazel reached to take it, it had designed all over with crosses, she flipped it overseeing the words ‘Holy Bible’ printed in the same gold letters.
“It appeared on my bed” he slouched, Hazel glanced back at him, she knew how he felt with anything related to Catholicism, it wasn’t simple back in those days when the Catholics would see what Nico and she were, to be considered a sin.

“I haven’t read one of these since, well forever, I guess” she chuckles to lighten the mood, “It says something in the front when you open it, I don’t know what it says but all I could note is that it’s from 1868” she opened to see, sure enough, he was right.

“Is there anything else in here?” Hazel started to flip through the pages, and a bright yellow line appeared somewhere in the pages with annotated words written in, the words were in English but it didn’t make sense from the other words written on the front. “Look” she shows him the highlighted page.
Nico snatched it from her hands to read it, “Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” She saw his face wrinkle like he ate something sour. “The annotated sentence just says, ‘The wrath of God will come, we are children of wrath’ What does that mean?”

She tried to think back to her catholic school days, in the late 1930s and early 1940, it had been so long since she thought back to that time, there were some bad memories and some decent good ones of her mother.
“Isn’t Warth one of the 7 deadly sins?” that was all she could remember.
Nico tried to count with his fingers, “Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloth, Envy, Greed, and Pride” He rolled his eye at the last one, it was a word that she knew he didn’t like to compare with being Gay and proud of it. Hazel had always stood by his side with that.

“Didn’t Ella say something about that as well?” Hazel brought up finally remembering, “The Wrath, something…challenge?” she shook her head not having the skill to remember what Ella had said due to the lack of sleep was zoning her in and out, but Nico nodded, looking back at the highlighted words.
“John 3:36, doesn’t it mean that if you don’t believe in God's son, then you don’t see God himself, Something like that?” he tells her eating a fry from her plate, Hazel took the book from him to read the rest of the page, nothing made sense as far as she saw it.

“It doesn’t sound like a prophecy, but I could be wrong. Perhaps we could ask Lavinia, we have an outing in a few days with the campers, I’m sure she knows more about this than we can.”
“Why not now?” Nico seemed confused, but then his face soften when he looked at the orange sky nearly setting “Oh today is Friday.”

Chapter Text

Nico:

For the next few days, Nico tried his best to do as much work as he could, helping Hazel out with her Praetor duties, volunteering on the more physical task Adeline couldn’t cover, and taking a part-time duty with Teddy on guarding the gates.
Every night Nico tried to make sure both he and Hazel don’t wake up with the pain attacks, mainly he’d jump into her dreams now but they’d always end up splitting and waking in even more pain.

On the day of the outing with the Campers to the shopping malls around San Francisco, the five of them were eating at a usual restaurant Hazel had told Nico about, which was a perfect combination for all of them, dairy free for Frank, Vegetarian for the both of them, and Kosher for Lavinia. That's one thing Nico liked about San Fransico, they always have the best accommodations.

“We got word from Camp Halfblood, they finally choose this year’s Epic beginning game,” Frank tells them, an Eagle from the camp had flown by to deliver both the Praetors a scroll.
“I hope it’s the obstacle race, I’ve been working on my upper body strength” Lavinia gleams as she watched Hazel open the scroll but her smile drops and her nose crinkled, “it’s a surprise Chariot race, hosted by the Iris Cabin?”
Nico looked over Hazel's shoulder to check, “what’s the surprise?”
“I don’t know, they didn’t say what it was, but they have the following activities, Lava rock tossing, Three-legged race, and–oh look at that! Karaoke”
“Cool! I suck at Karaoke but I wanna drive a Chariot!” Teddy cheers.
“No, you don’t,” Hazel and Nico say at the same time, despite the kid only being a few years younger than Nico, they reminded him of himself when he first arrived at Camp Halfblood nearly 8 years ago. All cheery and joyous, sometimes Nico wishes that he was back to being as extroverted as Teddy Felson, they are almost nothing compared to the Nemesis children back at Camp HalfBlood.
“All we need is the sign-up sheet for the campers who are coming with us next week,” Lavinia says putting her hair up in a bun just as the food arrived at their table.
Throughout that Nico wondered, by far he hasn’t seen many changes in his body after the many restless nights he’s gotten, the Roman campers would joke that he always looks so dead so there wasn’t much besides the random gazes that makes him (and now Hazel) dissociate with reality.

Nico had done it again when he looked up at the television and saw the news channel talking about kittens being stuck in a tree.
He reacted when Teddy clapped their hands in front of Nico’s face, “huh, sorry what?” he shook his head, looking back at them, “Are you alright?” Frank asked concerned.
“Yeah, I’ve just…it’s the ADHD” Nico tried to play it off by taking a sip of his drink, “what were you guys talking about?”
Lavinia’s face lit up as though she was happy to talk about the topic again, “well I was saying that by the end of summer, I’ll be going to Julliard for the Tap Dancing program” she said in excitement, “that’s great, Austin goes to Julliard, I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see you around” Nico informs her, her smile widens, “Even better, that’ll show my mother that the school isn’t for ‘Wannabes’”
“What?”
“It’s a long story,” Teddy says, “We have time” Nico points to his plate, and letting the centurion explain, he silently prays that he wouldn’t lose focus on hearing Lavinia's conversation. He managed to put together what her problem was;
Terpsichore was not agreeing to her daughter’s choice of school to attend, Juilliard was overrated, blah, blah, blah, #Tapdancingforlife, Teddy then saying that Irish tap dancing was better, and something about needing good luck to pay off the student debt.

It all ended with Lavinia slamming her fist on the table and Teddy patting her on the shoulder. “On the bright side there’s plenty of Synagogues in New York to discover,” they say, trying to lighten the mood, “I guess your right, though it won’t be the same without you coming with me” She looks over at the kid.
Nico looked stunned, “your Jewish?” he looked at Teddy, “I was raised in a traditional Irish–Catholic household by my Grandfather since I was 5 when Grandma died, she was an Orthodox, though I started having an interest in learning about the religion, thanks to Lavinia.”

This had given Nico an idea, he had been carrying the Bible around with him trying to read through different passages during his free time to see if anything made sense to the highlight and also meaning to ask Lavinia about it but always kept forgetting, (blame the sleep). He could tell Hazel had the same idea.

“Teddy, by any chance do you know the passage of John 3;36?” Hazel brought up, Teddy bit their lip trying to think, “I think it says something like if you don’t believe in Jesus then you won’t be able to see God in all his glory and instead feel the anger? Why?”
Nico pulled out the Bible to show the passage and gave all of them what he and Hazel knew about what was going on at both camps and what Ella said about wrath, painfully enough to explain but he pushed through.
“So, is it like a Prophecy?” Frank says looking at the passage, “that’s what we’ve been wanting to know, everything connects but it doesn’t if that makes any sense?”

“Do you know what kind of mission Percy and Grover were doing?” Lavinia says suddenly on board with the conversation.
“No but I know that Piper, Leo, Calypso, and Lou Ellen went with them, that usually doesn’t happen, and I don’t think Chiron gave them permission to leave camp” Nico explained.
“But they wouldn’t need permission, they’re of age already, they can come and go as they please” Hazel reminds him. In all, the five of them came up with no idea as to what theory this could be put through.

Right after they finished with dessert, Frank went to take care of the bill while Lavinia and Teddy went to the bathroom, “I guess this is a cold case” Nico said looking at Hazel, “Lukewarm, Nico, I’m sure once we go to Long Island we’ll get our answers” she gave him a warm smile. He sighs, looking back up at the television that a different news reporter was announcing a piece of breaking news.
Somehow it caught his attention, “Could you turn that up a bit please?” he tells the waitress who did as told and went to turn up the volume.

“We interrupt this program with some Breaking News! Last night a 16-year-old girl reportedly escaped from a Maximum Juvenile Prison in Chicago, Illinois. Authorities say that this delinquent is a high-risk danger to society after the massive scandal 3 years ago in Houston, Texas. The name of the Juvenile is Primrose Evans, here is her picture, if you see this girl, please contact the police” the reporter’s face was covered by a photo of a girl’s mugshot plastered on the screen. Nico didn’t care about the news, just the reporter guy.

“Well we better hit the road now, I’m sure the Romans are waiting for the shuttle by the mall parking lot,” Lavinia said interrupting Nico and Hazel’s focus on the television, he blinked seeing her and Teddy standing there, she was shaking her wet hands to dry them off. “Ready” Frank walked over to take Hazel’s hand as they all left the restaurant.

***
Hazel:

There was something about the news reporter man who made that report of the Juvenile, he looked familiar like she’s seen him somewhere before.

“Hazel” Frank says looking at her, they were seated at the bus shuttle with the Roman Campers, heading back to Camp, she cursed inwardly after realizing she had zoned out again, “yeah” she rubbed her eyes turning to see him, “Are you alright?”
She nods, “You’re not” he reached for her hand, “it’s the night terrors” she admits.
“You should’ve told me you know, I’ve been worried sick seeing you like this for the past few days” his voice sounded hurt, just like how he had in his eyes earlier when Nico revealed the truth.
“I’m sorry, I-I wanted to tell you, I really did, but something kept holding me back and it felt so…forced” Hazel sighs remembering how she felt to tell them, it was like tiny stabs inside of her, easy to ignore but painful to realize it was there.

“We could ask Adeline and see if she could check on your dreams?” she shakes her head, “I’m not going to trust her powers if she hasn’t been able to sleep” they both looked over at Nico who had zoned out again, this time he had his headphones on.
“Neither would him,” she tells Frank as she started to fidget with the Jade stone necklace he gave her for her birthday.
“Then are you even sure it’s still a good idea to go to Long Island? With all that’s going on?” he whispered to her while everyone was distracted from whatever the young campers were doing after the outing. “As much as I don’t want to put any danger to the Romans, they’ve been looking forward to seeing their Greek siblings and friends since last Christmas”
“I guess your right, it would be nice to see everyone again, especially Will, he called the other day, having bad timing”
“Nico told me about that” she laughs, it was nice to feel a bit of her mood getting better.

When arriving back at Camp Jupiter, they were greeted by Pranjal who was unloading his luggage from his car, the Romans all gathered around to welcome him back from his trip to India, handing everyone a random souvenir he had in a never-ending bag. Pranjal is the leader of the Roman camp healers, being the Son of Asclepius, God of Medicine, he had his perks with being the best in medicine.
“Hazel, Frank! Wait is that Nico!?” he smiles reaching over to hug them but stopped when he took a closer look at both her and Nico.
“Holy cows of Juno! What happened to you guys?” he reached for Nico’s hand to feel his pulse, an ability from him to sense people’s injuries through touch, Pranjal frowned then taking Hazel’s hand to check on her as well, “Your both healthy?” he said, Hazel, Nico, and Frank gave him an odd look. “What?” she said questioned, “yeah, normal heart rate, blood is good, but why do you both look like you have insomnia?”

They looked at each other, then Hazel turn to see Frank who wanted to inform him of what was going on, she nodded and let him explain. Pranjal put a hand on his chest when Adelines, Jessica, and Tamera’s names were mentioned, “I–I need to go see Adeline, oh Gods”
“But you just got back,” Nico tells him, “doesn’t matter I’m a doctor, tell Jessica and Tamera to meet me at the healer’s cohort” he reached over to his bag and gave the three of them a random souvenir gift, then ran to the legions cohort. Jessica and Tamera are the twin daughters of Trivia, very skilled in their Herbal medicine magic, and are part of the healing cohort with Pranjal. As far as Hazel recalled, their magic was more of a mess than when Hazel used her mist, only to then faint.
She looked down at the gift in her hands, a small jar with tiny dry red sticks in it, she guessed that it was an herbal tea.

~*~
It was her turn for the night watch, and although Frank offered to take over, she insisted that she’ll be fine, Nico was going to join her at the Principic. “Coffee?” she offered Nico as they watched from a distance the dining pavilion, the Romans were having an ice cream party, trading and selling what they got from the outing to the other campers who didn’t get to go.
“No thanks, it reminds me too much of Will” he sighs resting his head on his hand, “you haven’t gotten an IM from him yet?” Hazel asked, it’s not possible at Camp Jupiter to Iris Message rather it’s only acceptable to receive one instead, she’s seen Nico often send air messages to Will but not much reply from him.

“No, I forgot to send him one during the outing, I zoned out again.”
Just then an Eagle flew near them, dropping a scroll on Nicos lap, the familiar design of it happen to actually be one of Leo’s inventions that the camp have adapted to using.
“It’s from Will!” Nico says in excitement, opening it up, the scroll showed a video-like message with Will’s face in the front, “Is thing working?” Will says moving the screen around.
“Oh, thank Olympus, I figured out how to work this thing, Hey Nico! I have good news to share, Percy and Grover are coming back with the rest of the crew, I wanted to IM you earlier but I was caught up with the Hypnos kids again. Annabeth went to pick them up in Indiana, Georgie went with her a few hours ago, I would’ve gone too but she won the coin toss” his face scrunched in a pout.

“But anyways, Percy just asked Annabeth to come so that he’ll explain everything, and to not tell Chiron but he was standing next to her in his Office when Grover IM’ed, you should’ve seen the look on his face, He–What is it, Kayla?” Will stepped out of the viewing for a few seconds then came back, “I gotta go I think they just got back, bye love y–” the video on the scroll had quickly faded out of view before Will could finish his sentence, Nico’s mouth was opened like he wanted to stop Will from ending the message but it was not like he could either way.
“They’re back?” Nico turned to Hazel, she couldn’t feel the emotion he had, it was almost blurred out, he sighed “whatever it is I hope he tells us as soon as possible.” Hazel watched as he quickly ran to the nearby desk and took out a piece of paper to start writing something on it, he folded it to look like a plane before throwing it across the window where it then faded away. The air nymphs mainly took charge in sending air messages directly across the country to whoever would receive it.

By midnight they kept themselves busy with a game of Mythomagic, Pranjal had given Nico a card set of Hindu Mythology which was what they decided to play to pass the time, she had gotten good at the games thanks to Frank teaching her, decking the cards around at each round with Nico.
“I win!” she smirks putting down the card, Nico picked it up seeing that she had it upside down, “616 points?” he tells her, raising an eyebrow, Hazel's face dropped which made him burst out laughing, “No, I could’ve sworn it was 919.” she takes the card from her brother, “I guess you lose to them now” she rolled her eyes.
“Can we pick a new set? Egyptian maybe?” she asked while packing the cards together, Nico stood up to go find a new card set by the shelves but stopped when he noticed that a card had fallen off to the side. Hazel sees him pick it up and squint while trying to read the name, “Silva?” he handed the card to her. Unlike the Roman Demigods, they don’t have Dyslexia like what Greeks struggle with, sometimes it’s more like Dyscalcula for her.

She stared at it, studying the images of the God, “Shiva” she corrects him, reaching over for the instruction paper to see what points he was worth, “One of the principal Hindu deities. The master of fertility, poison, and medicine, 10,000 points, 9,000 bonus points if the…Tri-shu-la? Is used during the opponent's attack first. Beware, never make Shiva mad -11,000 points if you do.” Hazel looked back at the card, “I could’ve won if I used him.”

Chapter Text

Nico:

Nico started to hallucinate at odd moments often making sarcastic comments to others just to get him to not dissociate. He waited for the next few days to see if Will sent an Iris Message or video scroll again, but nothing appeared around him, he hoped to have gotten an update but instead received that morning, a new air message that said; “Everything is alright, I’ll IM when I can, XoXo. - WAS”

Today was finally the trip to Long Island, everyone had gotten up early in the morning to make their way into the infirmary to receive their annual health checkup before getting on the bus. “Come on Romans move it, no pushing, everyone to their assigned seats!” Lavinia calls out to the younger campers who were pushing each other to not get a needle shot by the healers, Teddy was at the other side of the room handing all the ones that did get their shots a lollipop.

“Do I have to?” Nico asked Hazel had put him in for the visit with the healers, “Everyone has to do it and because you’re joining us on the ride to Long Island then that means a big yes” Hazel said taking him to sit down in the chair. Pranjal went up to them holding his clipboard.
“Have you gotten your flu shot?” he began to ask. Nico shuttered at the thought of what he went through earlier in the year with Will.
“yes”
“Blood test?”
“Yes,” he shook, even more, now the memory was coming to him, the first time he was ever tricked by Will into getting all of his vaccines, the entire Apollo cabin had to pin him down when getting blood taken out. He felt Hazel squeezing his hand as if it wasn’t worse for her with that memory, she was there when it happened and next in line, behind her happen to be Lityerses, son of Demeter.
“Well you seem to be up to date with everything,” Pranjal says writing down something “I guess you won’t be needing any shots“
“See I told you” Nico looked over at Hazel, she rolled her eyes, “any chance you’re pregnant?” she began to laugh after trying to say it with a straight face, he gave her a light shove shaking his head, then felt a needle pinch him.
“You tricked me” he whimpered rubbing his arm. Teddy gave him a cherry lollipop.

The Romans traveled on 2 Greyhound buses that have the quickest velocity as a Japanese Trian, Frank told him that once during the first summer visit, it was a gift from Mercury to the Romans. From the outside, they looked like any other Greyhound buses but inside were large enough to fit over 100 Roman Campers on each one.
Nico assigned himself with putting everyone’s luggage into the bottom pack, while one of the other legionnaires did the other, most of the items were from the children of Venus and Mars, packed with a mix of makeup and weapon supplies.
“I still think you should bring more Chaperones to the trip” Terminus mentions to Hazel as he reviews the signed sheet for the millionth time, despite him being the God of Boundaries he might as well also be the God of overcontrol when it came to his adopted legacy child Julia, who happens to be joining them on the trip. “We have 20 Chaperons already,” Nico says under his breath to which no one heard him as they were a few feet away already.

“Pisst, Nico” he stopped throwing the luggage into the compartment and looked around him, “who said that?”
“Over here” he looked at the bottom corner to see the familiar rainbow Mist with Will there. “Will!” Nico dropped the suitcase, not caring that something just shattered inside of it.

“Thank the Gods, I finally found time to speak with you” he sounded like he had just run to the nearest Water hose and tossed a golden drachma into it, not to mention the coffee eyes Nico was too familiar with seeing on him, “Will, What happened?” Nico tried to get him to focus.
“Right, oh Gods, sorry a lot has been going on here since the others got back from their mission, I’ve been up all night tending to the Idiots who got badly injured playing Pool at the big house–”
“Will!”
“Oh right! your theory, was all connected! the Hypnos Cabin and their loss of sleep and Lisa and Michas magic, Rachel had–”
“Did they explain what happened?” Nico finally asked Will’s face dropped.
“uh…well I’m not exactly sure, Rachel’s already told Chiron but they’re classifying it, Mr. D’s orders”
“Since when does Chiron listen to Mr. D?” Nico folded his arms, there was more to this but Will wasn’t going to bring it up.
“Anything else?” he asked Will,
“Well…we have a Newbie, she’s been undetermined since she got here, however, Um–” he looked behind him.
“Wait, Newbie? But didn’t Kayla say that Chiron wasn’t going to allow the new kids to come until winter?”
“Yes he did say that but Percy and Grover, brought her here–” Will stopped what he was about to say and then began to look around him, “I have to go now, I’ll see you this evening” the Mist faded.

Nico turned back to look at Hazel and Frank standing there at which he yelped, “Was that Will?” Frank asked, “No it was the President” Nico put up his sarcastic tone but apologized and gave them the information of what he was told.
“they probably didn’t know that Chiron said not to bring the new camper,” Hazel tells him, seeing Nico had now been unsure of Will’s words, although they both have the same question about it, assuming that it’s the hallucinations Nico began to develop now are messing with what he thought was Will was hiding something from him, acting weird, and the way he was looking around as though he was scared someone might find out what he was telling him.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Lit?” Nico asked Lityeres right before he got onto the bus, Lityeres, (or Lit as he likes to go by), was assisting Terminus as part of his summer internship for a prodject he's working on in New Rome. “Nah, as much as I want to, I need my credits here, say Hi to Leo, Georgie, and Calypso for me though” he gave Nico a grin before waving off.

Nico sat next to the remaining bags in the front row while Hazel and Frank were seated on the other side next to him, ‘Gotta love third wheeling’ he thought to himself.
“I can’t wait to play this, we have an entire update on our Mythomagic game” Frank smiles at his new game set, he got the same Hindu Mythomagic set as Nico did. “It’ll be fun, we’ll play it just the 4 of us like last year,” Nico tells him, looking over at both of them, the thought didn’t look so bad in his head. Last Christmas they one time spent the whole night battling down points at each other until one of the Camp Harpies barged in angrily and told Will and Frank to leave because everyone was being too loud in the cabin.

From the upstairs seats of the bus, he could hear Tyson tinkering with something while Ella read out loud a manual on airplanes. Surprisingly she looked much better and not like how he saw her the last time.
Nico had fallen asleep due to the noises of the Romans chaos felt comforting somehow.

He found himself on top of a mountain in the dream, it wasn’t like the Berkeley mountains near Camp Jupiter, this mountain was in a dry area where from the distance where other lands on them as well, the air was hot with the sun filling most of the sky with no sight of clouds nearby.
Nico tried to walk around and see if he had any understanding in this dream, a blonde woman was sitting on the ledge of a nearby cliff, she turned around and spotted Nico there, she had a warm smile on her face, and he was able to see that she had soft eyes that greeted peace upon him.
“My, My, I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you” the woman grins at him, then pats the ground next to her as though she wants him to sit next to her on the edge of the cliff. It felt impossible to tell what kind of Goddess she was, Nico had met multiple Gods from both Roman and Greek even the Troglodytes, normally the Gods show themselves in different forms but he was able to recognize them in an instant, yet he couldn’t seem to find out what she was.

He felt as though it would be fair to at least bow to her out of his respect, the Woman chuckles, “oh how sweet, no need to bow to me, this is only a dream” she pulled out a bag of Sunflower seeds and offered some to him, he politely declined.
“Who are you?” Nico asked the Goddess.
“Oh silly me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Harmonia, Goddess of…well Harmony, it’s in the name, and yet I’m often mistaken to be the Goddess of Harmonicas” she chuckles again before putting a couple of seeds into her mouth, the way Harmonia looks made enough sense that she was peaceful, she had a flowy yellow dress and brown boots that she proudly kicked her feet around on the edge as though she wasn’t afraid that shes only a kick away from falling off a mountain.

“Shouldn’t you be dead?” were the first words that came out of Nico’s mouth, bad habit, he blames insomnia giving him sarcasm.
Harmonia looked at him, “Depends on how much the mortals believe that I am or not, of course, there’s the whole story of me stripping down and letting my serpent husband kill me, but if someone had put my Encyclopedia correctly, then they would’ve known that this was the snake my father had turned me into.” she points at her chest where a small golden serpent was wrapped on her like a necklace, its eyes were the color of obsidian black and the details around it looked mostly like handcraft jewelry.
“And then there’s the story of my cursed necklace, but anyways, enough of me, I’ve come to seek the underworld children to their rescue.”
Nico gave her a look of concern “What do you mean by that?” Harmonia gazed back out into the distance of the mountain view, “nothing, about a couple weeks ago you and your sister were going through the reckless sleep, and now I’ve come to leave you a–oh what the word–taken off the edge sense, you’re both welcome”
“What?”
“Calmness” she waved her hands like she was drying them off, she scrunched the bag of sunflower seeds and shoved them back into her dress pocket, “what does this have to do with seeking for Hazel and me?” Nico looked around to see if Hazel was somehow also in the dream, “I’m speaking to your sister as of right now in the presence of Concordia, I’m sensing that you both carry a lot of emotions that could make Oizys jealous, which is why I made sure you and Hazel wouldn’t feel the wrath that will be coming once you wake up”
“What wrath?”
“The Opposition, as soon as the child sets foot at the camp I did do my best in protecting you two, for now, it was under your mother’s orders of course”
“My mother Maria? She died years ago, are–are you talking about Persephone? She is not my mother!” Nico wanted to feel angry but it was hard, being around Harmonia’s energy wasn’t allowing him, he could feel the annoyance though on the inside.

3 years ago during a dinner visit with Hades in the underworld, Nico and Hazel had attended, their stepmother, Persephone, announced to them that she was willing to adopt him and only him, why? They don’t know what came to the Goddess’ mind after the last encounters Nico’s had with her. Hazel went ballistic and immediately told her no, in defense of him, while Nico on the other hand started calling Persephone out on why just him and not Hazel too, then brought up all the many things she’s done in the past from turning him into a dandelion, to insulting his actual mother Maria Di Angelo, and threatening to throw him and Hazel into the fields of punishment alive.

Since then they haven’t heard anything from Hades or Pluto, but the next day both of them realized the Goddess cursed them with a vegetarian diet, every time Nico even took a bite of anything processed with meat he’d have the same reaction as Frank whose lactose intolerant and Cecil from the Hermes cabin, having a gluten allergy. Nico knew that Persephone would only break the curse if he and Hazel apologized but they agreed it’d be better not to, just to annoy her even more.

They learned to deal with the sudden lifestyle change, it was hard for him to give up chicken nuggets and McDondals fries but Nico wasn’t going to back down and give Persephone that satisfaction.

“Right––of course, but she sent me out to protect you both from the opposition, I’m afraid that there’s nothing more I could do unless the issue thats been happening, gets solved” she stood up from the cliff and looked down smiling, Nico followed her gaze and saw a bright field of flowers blooming everywhere, he knew what they were, but thought they were only a myth. “You know, they grow every vicennial but we all know who tries to get them first” she sighs.
He took a step back hoping he wouldn’t fall, he shakes his head “why would Persephone send you to protect Hazel and me? Is this another death trap?”
“No, at least that’s not what she wants from the two of you, and I am not here to speak what she would say but, this is important” she looked back at him, Harmonia reached for Nico’s hand, “I only agreed to this because of family––being the one thing I separate myself from, you know all about that don’t you?” Nico stood silent.
“Just know this child of Hades, Family is who you chose by heart, not by blood or status, think about that when you see her again.” Harmonia gave him another one of her soft smiles then the dream faded into darkness.

“Nico, Nico wake–Ouch” he flinched waked by the feeling of someone near him, Frank and Gwen, one of the legionnaires, were in front of him, Gwen happen to have shaken him awake which lead to Nico waking up and slapping Frank in the face, “sorry,” Nico said taking a second to realize what was going on.
“We just got to Long Island, I need you and Gwen to inform the campers upstairs that we’re almost here,” Frank tells him rubbing the side of his face.

The older campers were placed in the upstairs realm while the younger ones are at the bottom, most were fast asleep except for Ella who was reading a book with a wizard on the front cover. Gwen pulled over the front curtains of the window to reveal the view of the wooded hills and the familiar signs that read PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES.
“Were Here!” Gwen shouts, Nico jumped at the sound of her voice which was only followed by the Roman campers all cheering and getting up from their seats to start picking up their things, “Yay we made it!” Tyson snorts out from his slumber.

It was a challenge to get them all out of the bus, Hazel and Frank walked out first while Nico stayed behind to make sure everyone got out safely. During that he took the time to process the dream and what Harmonia said, like every God who visits Nico in his dream (which is rarely) he never seems to understand them, even though the Goddess has spoken to Hazel about the same thing. He made a mental note to ask her about it after dinner.
He looked out the window and noticed Will hugging Frank and Hazel, Nico ducked under the seat where it was dark enough and shadow traveled next to him as his way of surprising his boyfriend.
“Right behind you,” he said, Will quickly turned around and squealed, throwing his arms around Nico then started kissing him all over his face, “it’s only been two weeks, you couldn’t have missed me this much?” Nico said trying to move away from Will’s attack kisses, though Will stopped “Oh you guys, I’d like you to meet someone” he said referring to the three of them. Will motioned his hand as though he was calling over for someone “Frank, Hazel, Nico, This is Prim Evans, the new demigod” Will sounded proud to say but the smiles of both Nico and Hazel dropped when they faced her directly in a state of shock.

Chapter Text

Hazel

That painful feeling of the ache came back, it was faint, but still there. The girl standing right in front of them refreshed Hazel’s memory, seeing her on the News that day at the restaurant, nothing about her looked right.
She was tall, passing an inch of Will’s height, her skin was a smooth caramel color as though she had the perfect golden hour, her hair was a light brown, and her big bright eyes reminded Hazel of the Disney deer movie she once saw with Frank during a date night.

She wasn’t sure if Nico could sense her emotions as much as she could feel his, although she didn’t know how long were they staring at the girl until Lavinia came by and hugged Will.
Right away Nico grabbed Hazel by the arm and ran, leaving their distracted boyfriends with the girl. “Nico,” she says, but he continued to fasten his pace to the farthest place he could take her, the beach.

“You knew who she was, didn’t you?” he tells her as he quickly leans on the large rock behind him trying to catch his breath. Hazel was quietly picking the skin on her fingers and nodding, “Yes I did, but Nico–we can’t jump to conclusion, we just got here”
“She was on the news Hazel” he whispers shouts, “Percy and Grover brought a Prisoner to camp” she watched as he ran his hands through his hair.

“Nico? Hazel?” they heard someone call out to them, it was Annabeth and Grover walking towards them, Hazel could feel the wreck of emotion Nico had in him, as he went towards Grover and grabbed him by the collar, “You brought a prisoner to camp!” he says through gritted teeth.
“Who told you?” Annabeth covered her mouth scared, “We saw it on the news” Hazel said looking down at the sand on her shoes. Grover pushed Nico away from him “What do you mean? Thats impossible, Lou Ellen made sure to put the mist around us when we broke her out”
Hazel had chills run down her spine, “Were you guys not aware of what was going on at camp?” Annabeth folded her arms, “of course we know, Will told us about the Hypnos cabin and Rachel”
“What about Lisa and Micah?” Nico said, “Kyler said their magic wasn’t working?” Grover’s eyes went wide, “No, but Lou Ellen’s magic is fine”

“What’s going on?” Percy had come by to see what the discussion was, Hazel had to repeat what was said while putting her arm on Nico’s chest to prevent him from doing the same thing he did to Grover. Percys’ face went from confused to horrified “Styx, Styx, Styx!” now he was running his hands over his hair.
“What was the reason you both thought it was a good idea to bring her here in the first place?” She asked, Annabeth bit the bottom of her lip, Hazel could tell that she knew the answer to that but feared how Nico and she would react.

Grover and Percy both looked at each other, then at them, “Okay so, sit down this is going to be a very long story” Percy tells them both, Hazel leaned on the rock while Nico stood there next to her with his arms crossed.

“We were visiting the Mirrored bean, it was on our bucket list before going back to New York, Grover found her scent, and since I just graduated with a degree in Demigod Social Works, I thought; ‘Hey I might as well make my degree useful and do what I spent 4 years working on' but then we found out she was located in a Juvenile Prison, surrounded by hundreds of monsters, so like any decent demigod, we called for back up and whoever was available would come with us even though Chiron told us not to go through with this, blah, blah, blah, we spent a month cramped in a motel with two beds and a hot tub in the middle that I slept on cause Grover kicks in his sleep–”

“Percy” Grover nudged him, “oh right, right, we had Lou Ellen put some mist around us and we worked as Security Officers trying to find her and we did, she was in a solitary confinement room, locked in there for 3 years. We all came up with a plan on how to break her out and we did but got chased by––Empusas and destroyed the camp van that the crew got here on, so we hitched a hike to the Waystation in Indiana then IM’ed Annabeth to come to pick us up and now here we are” He said in such a fast pace that by the time he finished he was out of breath.

“That’s it?” Hazel said completely puzzled, “yeah”
Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs, “that still doesn’t answer our question though, if Chiron told you to not go through with this then why didn’t you just wait?” Nico put his hands up annoyed, “tell them” Annabeth muttered to Percy.

Percy looked like he was about to receive a punishment from Hazels ex Catholic teacher Mrs. Leer, but he put on a brave face and then looked at Nico, “Because Rachel said so, She had this dream about the fates warning the Gods about something then she said this might be important, we thought it was a fluke but then…Do you remember when we retrieved you and Bianca?” Nico’s face softened at the mention of his late sister, who happened to also be Hazel's Demigod half-sister too from the Greek side; she had died during a quest with Percy and Grover when they went to rescue Annabeth.

“Yeah” Nico looked to be unsure of where this was going, Hazel could indeed sense that, “You had a strong scent, and so did I, those with a strong demigod scent are most likely, a child of the big three” Percy quickly shuts his eyes in fear of what reaction Nico might have, Hazel, froze, feeling as though someone put salt on her wound and she can’t get a word out because of the pain burning her.

“Y-You mean-” Nico starts to stutter, she could see that his breathing was starting to get heavy, then his fist clenched together a range filled him in disbelief as he turn to run towards the water, “Son of a–” he kicked the sand “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!” he shouts at the sky, knowing well that it also could be Zeus’ fault. He kicked the sand again then summoned his sword from his coat and repeatedly try to stab the ocean.

“Nico, Stop it!” Annabeth grabbed him by the shoulder.
“AHHHH!” Nico ran to the giant rock and kicked it though Hazel saw that he instantly regretted doing it, then a burn hit the side of his cheek, she had slapped her brother across the face.
Now that calmed him, Nico leaned over to Hazel and hugged her, she felt her SPQR t-shirt wetting, and she held him tight in her arms. Knowing how to control her own emotion or else the beach would’ve been filled with jewels, she too wanted to burst out in anger, to grab the giant rock and throw it into the ocean, she was ready to jump into the water and find Poseidon to yell at him, run to the Empire State Building where Mount Olympus was and fight Zeus, send an angry letter to her father and not get him anything for fathers day next year.

Because being the child of the big three is highly dangerous. Percy was the son of the sea god, he’s been through too much, She and Nico were part of different Prophecies, one of them was from the war with Gaia. Zeus’ had two known children from both of his Godly forms, in Greek, he has a daughter named Thalia who prevented a prophecy by joining the Hunters of Artemis, and in Roman was a son, Jason Grace, both children shared the same mother Beryl Grace.
The problem with being a child from them is the risk of monsters from the mythical stories, yes they are real. The more power you have the more they’ll want you dead.

4 years ago, Jason Grace died during a mission with the sun God Apollo, long story short; no one is safe when it comes to being a child of the big three. When Nico went to Tartarus with Will, Hazel had nightmares for days wondering if he’d ever make it back alive, and then there are Percy’s multiple death experiences, last year during a summer visit with the Hunters coming to stay for a week, the four of them had discussed the ‘If’s and When’ their fathers ever had another child that they––the sibling(s), would be there to get them out or through the situation, they didn’t want another demigod to experience what they went through without the guidance, even if they were part of a prophecy or not. As said before, no one is safe.

“Do you know which one?” Hazel finally broke the silence, still holding Nico in her arms, Annabeth looked at her, “She hasn’t been claimed yet”
“Why?” they both looked confused.
“Mr. D, classified it so we aren’t sure, but we have concerns”
“Like?” she could feel Nico squeezing her shoulder, showing his worry.
Annabeth turns to Percy, “Zeus.”
There was no thunder roaring at the mention of his name, Hazel sighs, if Thalia was here she’d probably blast lighting into the sky and hunt her father down.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Nico said leaving Hazel’s hug, “We were busy keeping an eye on her, watching if any abilities would awaken,” Grover said, “does Thalia know? Did you at least inform her? She deserves to know!”
Grover bleeps, “No, we wanted to wait until Prim showed any signs related to one of them, Percy still thinks that they might be siblings”

“Who–oh the girl” Nico looked down at the sand, “what do you know so far?”
“She’s a fighter for sure, but Mr. D and Chiron have been keeping more track of her, ever since the dream Rachel had, she had an encounter with Primrose but she’s been very distant,” Percy says sounding concerned, Hazel suddenly remembered what Ella had said that day at the bookstore, “Ella said that she wanted to see Rachel confirm something of yours and Grover’s arrival it was the reason to what’s been going on at both camps”

Annabeth seemed to put the pieces together at least hoped she did, “It can’t be a Prophecy, Chiron would’ve said something about it to us”
“Well she and Tyson are here, perhaps you guys should go and find them, take Rachel with you,” Nico tells them, taking Hazel’s hand, she knew what was now on his mind, “aren’t you coming?” both siblings shook their heads, “we need to find Mr. D first,” Nico said before dragging Hazel away once more.

***
Nico

He tried to ignore his foot throbbing, and the faint burn on his face, the tiredness was more in control, he didn’t zone out after Percy had told him and Hazel that a potential demigod of the big three was at camp who also happens to be a prisoner and is now in danger because something is going on at camp.

Nico tried to put the pieces of what he knew; The mist that Lou Ellen had put on the girl during the breakout didn’t work because something is happening at both camps which Nico nor Hazel have the answer to due to their lack of thoughts fizzing out.
So now this girl is being reported if not all around the country and the monsters could easily figure out if she was a demigod because she had been surrounded by them and they always have an easy connection to inform each other about it.

If that girl is a daughter of Zeus then that makes Thalia Grace responsible to keep her promise and be there for this girl. This all sounded simple in Nico’s head as he made his way with Hazel to the big house to find Mr.D and confirm what they know.

They found him sitting by the pinochle table, only this time he wasn’t playing but rather napping, “Mr. D?” Nico said, the God woke up by the sound, “Di Angelo, you’re back” the God yawns, “Ah, the Romans are here, should’ve known, the air feels a lot colder”
“Mr. D, we wanted to ask you something” Hazel brings up, Dionysus stood up and made his way to the Big house, where they both followed behind him.

“Do you perhaps know what’s going on with the camp? The Hypnos children–”
“Yes yes I have been informed multiple times by Cabin 15 as if it hasn’t been easy seeing them every night in the game room hogging the snack fridge, William has already told me about the night pains your both getting, can’t say that I’m surprised that it’s happening to you as well, it’s supposed to,” he says leading them to Chirons office, Nico took a seat on the couch, Hazel did the same “well we know what’s going on, it’s happening over at Camp Jupiter as well”
“Yes, I do know that, if it wasn’t then Goldie here wouldn’t also be looking so restless” Dionysus points to Hazel, “Did it have something to do with the other Gods? Sir?” Nico asked starting to feel his anxiety rise, the God flicked his hand and made a Diet Coke appear, “maybe, it’s none of my business to be involved with that” he shrugs his shoulders and took a sip.
Nico waited for him to say something else, it had to be part of the God’s business, he’s one of the Olympians, “Will said you’re classifying it, there has to be a reason, that new camper girl is in trouble when Percy and Grover recused her, Lou Ellens magic didn’t work to cover the mess they made, we saw on the news that the girl is wanted all over the country now”

“Ah yes the newbie, as if she couldn’t get any more attention now that she’s here, you know we did tell Perrie and Grover to not go through with this of course no one ever listens, plus it’s fun to watch the consequences happen now, just wait until she’s claimed”
Nico sat up straight, “wait, you know who her Father is?” he gulped back air.
Dionysus shrugs “A mortal named Maxton Evans, nothing much about him”

Nico didn’t seem to understand, perhaps he heard him wrong, Percy said the girl was probably a demigod from the big three, and suddenly an image came in his head of Zeus looking like a woman, it’s possible the Gods could appear in the opposite genders, many of the demigod campers have same-sex parents, Malcolm Pace has two moms and Apollo is Kayla Knowles Mother by birth.

Could Zeus possibly have done the same?
“But Percy said that she’s one of the big three,” Hazel said, somehow Nico lost focus of his thoughts. Dionysus raised an eyebrow “What makes you think that she is?”
Nico spoke before she did “she had a strong scent”
Dionysus laughed “Yeah a scent so strong she nearly killed the Pegasus that brought her here”
“What?” they both say at the same time, never has Nico heard that happen before, “listen, kids, what’s happening right now isn’t any of your concerns, Zeus made some rules and we all have to go by them for now”
“So what? Are we just going to have reckless sleep forever?”
“No, just until a specific someone gets their head straight and fixes their reason for a mess”
“Who exactly?” Nico asked already annoyed, “no more questions” Dionysus continues to sip his drink, and Hazel looked ready to crush it in his face. They knew to not tick off a God unless they want to end up like the 2 new leopard heads next to Seymour, (much more of a much longer story).

“Dinner will be called soon, you both should get going now––oh and before you leave, might I say that if you both ever do want to talk to Evans, may I recommend to not bring up anything related to her time at the Juvenile, thank you” a cold feeling rushed through Nico, sensing a great warning from the God, as his way of saying that he was serious.
“Of course” Hazel’s voice sounded forced out, a hint of chill in it. They saw their way out of the big house, seeing that most of the roman campers have started to build their tents and hang out nearby. Nico looked over at his sister stopping mid-walk, “do you think she’s our sister?” was all she told him, he felt the lump of air that he swallowed back, was making its way to his throat again, he shakes his head “No, don’t even say that! We already have too much to worry about, besides if Zeus made some rules then that only leads us to believe that she’s his daughter.”

Chapter Text

Nico:

Dinner was a free seat for the campers to all sit anywhere and talk to their Roman siblings and friends, Will looked to be relieved when he saw Nico and Hazel show up at the Mess Hall where he and Frank were waiting for them by the Hades table.
Nico wrapped his arms around Will, needing to feel his comfort even if it was just for a few seconds, he missed the warmth Solace always has, “what’s wrong?” Will asked in his ear, Nico shook his head, “Nothing I just missed you” he said then took a seat next to him, seeing that Will had already filled his plate with the vegetarian food he likes.

Frank brought up the Mythomagic cards to Will, at which began the entire conversation with just the two of them following along with the activities they were all going to do tomorrow, “definitely listing us for Karaoke tomorrow” Will squealed, Hazel looked like she was listening but Nico knew she had zoned out once again.
Two tables down behind them was the girl––Primrose.
Nico began to take notice that she looked a lot different than the image of her mugshot on the television screen a week back. She was seated at the Hermes table, next to her was Georgie and it so happened that Pranjal was sitting in front of them, perhaps he was telling them the story of his trip to India, though Nico couldn’t help but study Prim a bit, the more he looked at her, trying to see if she shared any resemblance to him, Percy or Thalia, sometimes it’s the eyes most campers share with their demigod siblings, others could also have facial features like noses or jawlines.

She was tall that’s for sure, so there’s no way she was Hades, he and Hazel are a lot smaller in figure. Percy is 6’1ft, but she didn’t have his sea green eyes, that only leaves his rightful theory of Thalia, he remembers how Jason didn’t look anything like her, sure they shared the same bright blue eyes and the bravery glow.

However, the girl's eyes weren’t blue but judging from the distance it was maybe brown. The only glow Nico could see from the girl was her skin, it reminded him of the time the Aphrodite children were fighting over a makeup product called Highlighter, which he found rather stupid as to why would anyone put markers on their face, until Kayla had to explain to him what the makeup actually was and then having Will put it on him during the Pride Parade they went to at Time Square back in June. A glittery shimmer that looks like he was sweating a lot––but wasn’t.

That was what Nico could describe as what the girl looked like at every angle of the fire lights floating around the mess hall. He’s seen that before on someone but can’t jot the memory of who it was.

“Nico” he heard someone say behind him as they tap his shoulder, it was Meg McCaffery, Daughter of Demeter. Nico turned to see her standing there with an empty plate in her hand, “hey Meg” he says now making his body face her.
“I have a question,” she said plainly, “yeah?”
“So you know how, you, being the son of Hades and all, I’ve seen you a couple of times disintegrating plants” He nodded, unsure where she was going with that information, Meg has never come up to him to ask about plants, he was the last person to be answering those kinds of questions.
“Well has it ever, you know–come back to life?”
That took him by curiosity “what do you mean by that?”
She sighs then glanced behind him and then back, “I saw that you were staring at Prim and I thought that you can sense it too, can you?”
He looked at her blurred which made her anxious to say something else, “We had a council meeting that night when she arrived, Rachel mentioned the dream she had and why she told Percy and Grover to go through with retrieving Prim from–get this–” she leans closer to whisper it, Nico already knew what she was going to say.

“Prison–she showed up here in that orange uniform and made a scene at the lake, Dionysus warned us to not ask her about it because it’ll–”
“Meg I don’t see where you’re going from this, what does it have to do with your question?” Nico said impatiently, wanting to just go back and eat his food. Meg rolled her eyes.
“Well in case you haven’t noticed, the camps only newbie, hasn’t been claimed since she got here last week, at first everyone thought she was a daughter of Zeus because of the Prison thing, but then we thought she was Ares because of the fight she pulled on Erik Madden and we think that perhaps she was just part of the Olympian group, everyone began making bets on who she was, but then today––something happened”
“Which was?” Nico started to feel the dazedness coming in, expecting to hear Meg say that the girl made strawberries appear or something like that but it happened to be the opposite.

“She disintegrated the squash, I made by just standing there”
Now that caught Nico’s attention, he stared at her in disbelief, “what?”
“I know right, I thought I had planted a bad seed but as soon as she walked away from the field with Georgie, the squash came back to life, Kaite thought I did something to it but I didn’t, so it got me thinking, ‘who else kills plants?’–No offense”
“None taken”
“So I thought of you, but I’ve never seen you bring one back to life, you know being the Son of the dead” Her eyes looked behind him again and they stayed there, something told him to look at what she was seeing, which he did.

The girl was staring back at them as though she heard their conversation. His focus was interrupted though by the sound of a glass clinking, Chiron was about to make an announcement, but the look on his face had excitement in it, “Campers, Roman Guest, I thank you all for coming today, as you may know, tomorrow we have an exciting schedule of activities leading up to our Chariot race, hosted by the children of Iris” he gestures over to the table where Cabin 14 had all of the Goddesses kids waving and smiling.

“and secondly I want to do the honors of announcing the Engagement to two very important people here with us” The campers all began to whisper and mutter about who he must be talking about, “I would like for everyone to Congratulate, Mr. Grover Underwood and his now Fiancee, Juniper, on their engagement!”
Grover and Juniper stood up from their seats as the campers, both Greek and Roman, began to cheer for them. Nico was at a loss for words, he didn’t know that Grover was engaged, having seen him just an hour ago at the beach, he probably hid the news pretty well, despite Nico almost turning him into a zombie sytr.

He turned back to continue to talk to Meg, who looked proud of the happy couple, “you were saying” he tried to grasp back her attention, “huh-oh yeah, about Prim, I have a feeling she’s probably yours and Hazels’ new little sister”

Nico’s eyes went wide at the mention of ‘little sister’ just like what Hazel mentioned before, he didn’t want to believe it and silently wished that the girl wasn’t.
He couldn’t see himself having another sister, the daughter of Hade’s title already belonged to his older sister Bianca.
He had expected to one day maybe find out he’d have another demigod sibling in the far future as an old man when Will and he are retired and living their lives in New Rome as fun uncles to Hazel and Frank's children. One day, Hades could decide to break his marriage vow to Persephone again and bring a new demigod into camp.

Nico didn’t expect this to happen now it felt too soon, at this point he could feel the anger building up, the grudge; a fatal flaw from Hades himself. During the battle of Manhattan, his father wanted him to be the child from the prophecy for when they turned 16, they’d defeat Kronos. Hades made it accurate to the point he had tricked Nico into bringing Percy to the underworld where he was kidnapped, in hopes Nico would come of age. Not to mention his older sister Bianca would’ve reached that age before him if she hadn’t died.
And now, Nico could just feel it. If that girl might possibly be Hades, then where in Tartarus was she hiding? Now he wanted to know why she was even in prison in the first place if Hades wanted to win the war so badly. But this couldn’t have been true, McCaffery had to be wrong.

Nico came back to reality when Hazel asked him what was wrong, Meg began to repeat everything she said just as Nico picked up a pear from the fruit bowl and began to concentrate on it, watching as it began to rot in his hands. He analyzed it for a second and wondered if what Meg had said was actually true, which it can’t be!
Hazel looked at him with her eyes wide when Meg finished talking, now Will and Frank were listening as well. He could sense that they knew what he was about to do. Right then Nico picked up the bowl and went up to the girl, following behind him was Will who was trying to stop Nico from doing it. He grabbed whatever was first in the bowl and threw it at her, “Nico don’t!–”

But it was too late for Will, Nico then threw a banana, then a plum, an orange, and a vine of grapes. He kept throwing whatever he could as Will tried to hold him back, even when the girl had gotten up from her seat to try and move away from him, “Oh my Gods, What is wrong with you Di Angelo!?” Georgie stood in front of the girl holding her butterfly knife.
“Nico stop it, leave her alone!” Will shouts at him, now tightening his grip on Nico's wrist while Frank held the boy back.
He knew the campers’ attention was now on them seeing this happen, “Guys look!” someone shouts, it came from the Hebe table behind the girl, everyone looked down at the pile that was underneath her. The girl looked down at the ground from where the fruits once were had now started to decompose.
Nico’s heart sank, an instant of fear and regret for what he just did, the only reaction he saw that matched him was Hazel’s.

“I knew it!” Meg calls out, “She’s a child of Hades! That’s why it’s taking her so long to be claimed!”
Everyone gasped, the girl hadn’t moved from where she was standing. Nico was shaking like someone had dunked cold water on him. He didn’t know Chiron had come through to see what was going on.
“What do you have to say for yourself Mr. Di Angelo” He looked over at Nico who didn’t make eye contact with the Centaur.
“She isn’t one of them, Chiron, this explains nothing!” Georgie came into defense turning to look at the girl, “I know you’re not a Hades kid”
‘What does she know’ Nico thought, Georgie hasn’t been claimed by Apollo for the past 3 years since she arrived at camp every summer.

“No, no, I can’t be, I already have a father, it can’t be Hades!” of course Nico knew that, perhaps Hades was her mother, something hard to believe but it is there. Unexpectedly it clicked in his head. The reason the Bible he was given, the passage said, that if you don’t believe in the son of God then you’ll face the wrath of him.

It all made sense now; believe it or not, Hades was in fact a mother to a demigod child.
Persephone sent Harmonia because she didn’t want him and Hazel to be mad that Hades had brought another child but as a woman.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know what this meant? Meg told me what you all suspected of that girl!” Nico began to say, then turned to face Hazel who didn’t look to be wanting any part of this conversation “Hazel tell them what happened you were there too!” Will lets go of Nico’s wrist and placed his hands on his shoulders, “Nico you’re speaking in Italian, calm down!”

He didn’t realize he was doing that, he thought he was speaking in English, but now that he noticed he felt like someone was censoring his words, in a panic he slipped out of Frank’s grasp then points at the girl while looking at Chiron, “She is a child of the Underworld, I feel it Chiron this is not good, not good!” again he now heard himself still speaking in Italian.
“That’s enough! Nico you either apologize to her or I’m putting you on stable duty tomorrow morning!” Chiron snapped which made everyone flinch at the sound of his angered voice, but Nico didn’t say anything else, afraid he’d mess up.

“Can someone tell me what he’s saying I don’t speak Olive Garden!” someone shouts from a distance. ‘Asshole’ Nico said in his head.
Grover appeared by the girl and Georgie’s side, telling them to go back to their cabin, they obliged and walked away just when Chiron started calling out on Nico for the scene he made.
Something hit him on the side of his face to which he didn’t flinch, the girl must’ve thrown it, he felt like he deserved that for the embarrassment he put her in. He couldn’t blame her. Chiron followed with what he said by putting Nico on stable duty tomorrow morning. It didn’t matter, he just waited until the Centaur left him there to feel ashamed.
“What in the Tartarus, Nico, why did you do that?” Will said as soon as Chiron left their sight, he stayed silent, looking down at the ground and noticed the fruit that was thrown at him was a pomegranate, they’re sacred to Hades, but that was not all that caught Nico’s attention, rather it was in perfect tact, he then glanced at where the girl was standing before, the pile of fruit was also brought back to new.

***
Hazel:
Hazel was terrified by the sight of it when Nico pointed at the pile, he was still silent about it, Will shook his head, “Nico, she already has a father” Nico looked at him, “No Will, Hades is her mother, and I can prove it.” She didn’t want to hear it when Meg told her she thought it was a joke, then she saw Nico get up and throw fruit at the girl, then that’s when she realized what might be possible. Then the way how her brother started to speak Italian, sounded like someone was muting him to not say the truth, she knew the language he taught her, and Will even knew what he said. Just earlier Nico said that Primrose wouldn’t be their sister, that she was Zeus and now the answer was clear, unless Thanatos, God of Death, has something to do with it. But Hazel thought back to what Concordia said in her dream, that their stepmother sent the Goddess to protect them, Hazel didn’t know what it was at first and assumed it was for the night pains, perhaps she and Nico would finally get some sleep.
Instead, it was for this, the Greek form of her father Pluto had another demigod child as a woman.
The gears were turning in her head, finally letting all of it make sense from the passage in the Bible, Hades gave to Nico, it was to believe it. Frank seem to have failed to understand when Nico told him and Will, her brother was explaining it in between a mix of the following emotions of, confusion, unease, angst, and now mad, during his explanation the signs were clear that Nico was about to have an anxiety attack.
The four of them were standing by the door to the Hades cabin, having already left the dining hall and getting an earful from the camp Harpies for the mess Nico made. “Nico, breathe,” Hazel said shaking him with her hands on his shoulders, “What would this mean for us–for her, she’s like what 17?–”
“16” Will corrected him now reaching over to hug Nico so he’d calm down. “Even worse, she was of age to come to this camp during the war–” he stopped mid-sentence to push himself away from Will, “what did she do, why was she in Prison?” “Wait, she was in Prison?” Frank looked shocked, Hazel almost forgot that he didn’t know that, both looked at Will for the answer, she too wanted to know as well, but after the warning Dionysus gave them, she was afraid to say anything about it, she could see that the God had given Will the same talk, he only shook his head, “just calm down Nico, we could discuss this in the morning, drink some water and get some sleep, Please.” Nico wanted to protest but Hazel placed her hand on his back to assure him, “Let’s go inside” she said guiding him into the cabin, giving Frank a quick good night kiss before shutting the door. Sighing to herself she saw that her bags were already on her bed, from the bus.
“do you think Persephone was warning us to not get mad, that Hades had another child,” Nico tells her as he lay on top of the comforter of his bed, he was staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stickers she had put up during Christmas, to make the room more galaxy-like. Hazel looked around the room, he hadn’t made any changes on his side, other than the large portrait she painted two years ago for Nico’s birthday, which he finally put up next to the Italian flag he had on the wall. It was of Bianca smiling as though she looked to be from the Victorian era.
Nico once saw Hazel as Bianca's replacement during a bad grieving state he was in but learned to accept that she was gone forever, Hazel made sure to remind him Bianca was never forgotten by making the painting, it was hard to paint her though since they never met, she had to ask Adeline to send her into Nico’s dreams once, to see if he’d dream about his older sister and collect a detail to remember what she looks like when drawing. Nico cried when he opened the wrapping paper that day. Harmonia’s words comforted her, and a small smile appeared on Hazel’s lips. “Harmonia did say that family is who you chose by heart, not by blood or status,” she said, not taking her eyes away from the painting of Bianca Di Angelo. “No, she said that for Persephone” She heard Nico sob and she turned to see him facing the wall on his bed, “But still, we made a deal didn’t we? The four of us–well five plus Tyson, we’d be there to guide the sibling that comes next” she sat beside him on his bed, rubbing his shoulder.
“But I always thought a new sibling would be decades from now, we’d be in our 40s or something like that, be mentors to them instead, and not–I already have you Hazel” He faced her with tears in his eyes, “I can’t deal with another worry and she doesn’t look anything like us.”
“You’re right, you and I are like twins” she joked, finally getting a smile from him, it was weak but enough for him. “I’ll apologize to her tomorrow when I finish the stable duty, it’s the least I can do” He took another deep breath, “Good choice” She smiled at him and then kissed his forehead “Sleep tight.”

Chapter Text

Nico:

Nico’s only done Stable duty a few times, mostly with newbies who were unlucky with the chore task, but this time there aren’t any newbies, just him and a shovel.

He didn’t complain at all about it, because for the first time he actually had a decent sleep of 5 hours before getting up right when the sun rose. “Good morning Apollo,” he said seeing the sun shining through the sleeping Pegasus’ some had woken up and whinnied for breakfast which Nico was in charge of.
“Hold your horses,” he said to one of them as he tried to pick up the hay, the pegasi took offense to that and whinnied more, “Sorry, hold your…wings?” Nico groaned taking the pitchfork and jabbing the hay to give it to them.

“Hey” He heard Percy’s voice behind him, “Hi,” Nico said quietly then turned to see him standing by the exit, “Hope you’re not here to help me”
“I’m not–well–unless you want to–”
“No thank you–are you here to take Black-Jack for a ride? He just ate”
Percy shakes his head, “I came here to talk, at least apologize” Nico stopped what he was doing, “for what?”

Percy scratched the back of his head, the look of embarrassment was on him, “I should’ve explained to you a little more about Prim, I forgot to tell you something else before you did that last night”
Nico dropped the pitchfork his face was perplexed, “what did you forget to tell me”
“It’s going to sound more like a warning, whatever you do, don’t make her mad–”
“Why?”
Percy glanced behind him then at Black-Jack who was happily eating and listening at the same time, it was a good thing Nico didn’t speak horse.
“I kind of thought she was a daughter of Poseidon, she has this look of danger in her eyes, similar to how Annabeth described me when I…broke, that one time––it’s hard to explain”
Nico nodded, remembering how he too had a similar experience with Will in Tartarus and a few other times before and after.

“She’s been through a lot, the prison wasn’t easy as far as what I’ve witnessed, but she was showing a lot of signs that she was Zeus’ I mean she’s strong, even though she was locked up for so long, she broke Erik Maddens arm and a table”
Nico frowned, perhaps the girl wasn’t who he thought she was, “If she gets mad she brings the prison side out of her, noted–is there anything else?” he asked him, Percy nods, “After last night, I guess I started to assume she was probably Hades, there was nothing that lead up to assume she was, except this one time–when I was under the mist as a guard––before bringing her here, there was one security guard who always kept an eye on her, I didn’t understand why Prim was being heavily guarded by this one officer, until the break out happened, out of the 3 Empusas that were chasing us, this one turned out to be a furie, Nico”
Nico felt startled “Was it Alecto?”

“No, it was another one, or at least I think? Everything happened so fast, I still can’t believe we made it out alive” he smiles down at the floor as if it was a good memory. Black-jack whinnied into the conversation, Percy rolled his eyes, “Oh right, that too”
“What did he say?”
“When Annabeth and Georgie came to pick us up, Prim’s scent was apparently so strong that she-”
“Nearly killed the Pegasus’ Yeah Mr. D told us that already, how is that possible?” another Pegasi whinnied as well, Nico thought it was because they were hungry so he picked up the hay and threw it at them.

“From what ButterScotch told me, she smells like Yew”
“Me?”
Percy chuckles, “No, Yew, Y-e-w, Meg said that it’s a poisonous tree, it only has edible berries but the seeds aren’t and the scent weakens any Horses” all the Pegasus began to kick their doors, and nay.
“Sorry, Pegasus’ I mean” he gave an eye roll.
Nico thought back to the memory of a Greek story where the Yew tree was a symbol of the dead and sacred to his father.
“So she might be Hades’ daughter?” the words sounded bitter to Nico.
“I don’t have the answer to that, but just between you and me, I hope she’s actually Poseidon, It’ll be nice to have another sister–”
“But you already have one”
“Estelle’s only 4 right now and mortal” Nico rolled his eyes, Percy’s younger half-sister was an adorable kid, but it wasn’t easy to be near any mortals while you have Monsters attacking you 24/7 most of the time.

“I bet Thalia would love to have a sister if the girl was Zeus’”
“We’ll just have to wait, it’s the only amount of time that would get us through with this, I did, however, send an Air Message to Thalia, you were right, she deserved to know, she replied back at dawn, the hunters are coming tomorrow under Artemis’ orders, She’ll know by then.”
Nico nodded and picked back up the pitchfork, “I just have one question Percy” he said feeding the last in the stable, “yeah?”

“What did she do? The girl?”
Percy’s face dropped, “Her name is Primrose, Nico”
“Yeah her”
He didn't have the same reaction Will did when he asked last night, the look on Percy’s meant he knew– of course he would.
“I was hoping you were going to ask me” he reached into his hoodie pocket and took out a beige folder rolled into a cylinder, “Don’t tell anyone this, but I made a copy of her prison file, I’ll need you to swear to me on the River Styx––once you know, you can’t tell her or anyone, not even Hazel––if she wants to know, tell her to come to me”

“Why can’t you just tell me? It couldn’t have been that bad” Nico felt at odds with the look on Percy’s face, it’s never alright to make an oath on the river Styx unless it’s serious. “Because you wouldn’t believe me, this here however is proof” Again Nico hesitated for a second thinking if he should ask Hazel first if she wanted to know as well before deciding, but the ADHD took him at best “I swear on the river Styx” Percy handed him the folder.

On the first page was a picture of her mugshot, the same one he saw on the news, only that now he took a closer sight at how she looked like, she looked younger, perhaps because of how short her hair was, her eyes were also glistening with fear in it, normally pictures like these had the inmate holding up a sign that stated what they were arrested for, but the girl didn’t seem to be holding one. He flipped the paper to see what it said on the next page.

Name: Primrose Ivory Evans
Born: October 10th, 1999
Place of Birth: Indio, California
Age: 13
Date of Arrest: December 30th, 2012
Reason for arrest:

What Nico read next, instantly made him run to the bathroom, by a world record he made it just in time to projectile vomit into the nearest toilet, thinking of how awful he felt. It made him sick from the inside out. Like he personally re-lived an entire scene from one of those Stephen King novels he read with Will last Christmas to prove that he could tolerate gruesome things after Tarturus.
Now he didn’t know what to tolerate after reading that file.
“If it makes you feel any better, she doesn’t know what happened,” Percy said stepping into the stall, Nico felt his stomach turn again, the anxiety weighing in.
“How does she not know!” He shouts turning around to look at Percy standing by the doorway before letting out another round of yesterday’s food, “She apparently lost her memory the next day after her court hearing, believe me, I didn’t even know all this until that exact night we went to rescue her”

Nico felt the tears shedding down, his head still in the toilet “Oh Gods, Who else knows this?” Nico wiped his mouth with the toilet paper next to him, “Just Me, Grover, Rachel, Chiron, and Mr. D, now you”
“What about Annabeth and Leo, He has to know!?”
Percy shook his head again, “Annabeth didn’t want to read it she could already tell by the look on my face when she asked me––as for Leo, well…no it’s best he doesn’t know for now”
Nico hugged his knees as he sat on the floor, he didn’t cry anymore, he only felt cold now, this isn’t what a child of Hades would do. That was definitely something no mortal or demigod should experience from that girl. Thalia might want to know when she gets here tomorrow she’ll burn something into crips, hopefully, that Primrose girl.

“Do you regret it?” he asked looking up at Percy.
“No, I did at the beginning, I didn’t believe it at first, thought the mist was perhaps messing with us, then that night I thought I was making a mistake in getting her out of there but Grover slapped me in the face and told me to be brave about it, that the behavior matched a demigod, so it’s possible that things could’ve gone worse if she did remember what happened.”

“But what happens when she does? Percy this could–” “Mr. D and Chiron are handling it, I’ve seen them write something down a couple of times on a notebook and inform Rachel, they’re keeping track of her. The best to do is put a brave face on and wait.”
Percy helped him up from the floor, Nico tried to remind himself that he too was much braver than this as well, he’s been to Tarturas twice, survived three wars, and experienced the worse pains no one has ever thought of feeling. Percy was right, this could’ve gone a lot worse if she remembered it.
“I had the Goddess Harmonia visit me in a dream yesterday. She said that she was sent to protect Hazel and me, I think it was to not get mad that the girl is Hades’ mother”
“Mother? Well, that's a shocker” Percy chuckles looking down at his own vans. Nico took notice that he was wearing them rather than the usual light blue ones that he got him for his birthday last year.
Nico rolled his eyes “It’s a long story, but I’m starting to think Primrose–couldn’t be his, after reading that file, the behavior is definitely Zeus” Nico admits, those words came out of him like he just bathed himself in mint and just stepped out into the cold. Shuttered.

“Rachel had a dream the night I Irised Messaged her to deliver the news of what Chiron said to not proceed with the retrievement, she said I should, that her dream had something about the Fates and the Gods are mad about it, then she told me to proceed in bringing her here, perhaps it was connected, but no ones sure about it.”
“You mean like a Prophecy? Like what’s happening right now to the camp is all related?”
Percy stayed quiet for a while, thinking, Nico took that time to wash his hands and face.

“I mean think about it, if this all happened at the exact same time the Hypnos and Hecate children started to experience insomnia and loss of magic then it’s all connected.” Nico continues as they made their way back to the stables, the sun was now up, warming through as demigods began to race for the bathrooms and forming lines so long that by the time they get to use the showers, it’ll have ice in it, he felt grateful to have a bathroom of his own in the Hades cabin.

“No, I don’t think so, Like Annabeth said; Rachel or Chiron would’ve said something about it, and they haven’t”
“What if I go ask her, what if this is like a warning or I might be wrong, I hope I’m wrong” he muttered the last part, making it more like a prayer to Hades.
Percy offered to help him finish at the stables which Nico had no choice but to accept, it would make time go by faster so he could find Rachel before breakfast.

Hazel had already been awake by the time he walked inside the cabin to freshen up from the stable mess. She looked unease when seeing him walk in, “You have a bruise on the side of your face” She pointed at her eye to indicate it for Nico, but he didn’t care, “I think we should go see Rachel” he blurts out to her as he went to his closet, shutting the door behind him, he could already feel that she gave him a weird look, “why?”
He thought for a second, “I want to ask her about the night aches”
“But didn’t you say–”
“I know, but Percy said she had a dream, what if it’s connected to the girl”
“Nico–What? No, it can’t be. Hasn’t Ella already spoken to Rachel about what's going on?”

Nico was about to break his promise to the Styx but felt already guilty enough that he was breaking the other one by going through someone’s own possible issue with the Gods. He knew he couldn’t do that, so he stayed quiet when coming out of the closet, dressed in all black with his Black Camp Halfblood T-shirt and jacket.

“I still think we should go, however, I want to know what’s going on with Cabins 15 and 20”

***
Hazel:

Although Rachel Elizabeth Dare was the Camps Oracle, chosen by Apollo about 6 years ago, she didn’t have a cabin at the camp, rather she stayed in a decorative cave that Hazels visited only a few times during her camp visits.
Nico had dragged her there right before the horn blew to indicate Breakfast had gone out. Rachel was inside but not doing what she’s normally known for, Painting, she did have on her art apron wiped in different colors of acrylic paint, and she didn’t look as bad as Nico described to Hazel to have looked like before he left for Camp Jupiter.
If anything Rachel seemed to have gotten a bit more rest, still having dark circles but she seems more anemic than the zombie sight of the Hypnos children.

“Hey,” she said, not looking up from the table she was sitting at, she was shuffling Tarot cards and putting them around in a row. “Morning,” Hazel says putting a smile on, “Let me guess, you’re curious to know about the endless wreck that’s going on?”
The look on Nico’s face made it obvious, Hazel could only wish to punch him in the arm, one thing about Rachel being an Oracle that could give out Prophecies and psychic senses, she is able to sense emotions from anyone near her.
“Yes and no,” Nico said as he walked over to Rachel and began to explain what Percy had told him during the early hours at the stables about the bizarre consequence that all this happened at the same time when Percy called after Rachel had that dream about the Gods and Fates.
All that made Hazel feel sick to think that Primrose was the cause of it. If anything she might be innocent of the dilemma happening, if there was a Prophecy about her, and without the right mindset she could get herself killed, it happened before with many other demigods at both camps.

“You’re talking nonsense Di Angelo” Rachel set down her cards and looked up, “what I saw was the Fates talking to the Gods, up in Mount Olympus, it wasn’t directed at the camp, it was about…a destiny, there’s a difference between Prophecies and that, except I can’t remember what it was after the wreckless nightmares keeping me up” she stopped herself to take a deep breath then picked up a card sighing, “Nine of swords, again” they both watched as she shuffles the cards once more.

“What about Ella? She said she wanted to confirm with you about what's happening.” Hazel brought up, Rachel bit the bottom of her lip and glanced at the corner of the cave, Ella’s nest was there, but no harpy sleeping on it. She was probably at the big house library where she would usually go to.
“Yeah, she did say something about confirming, but– it all shifted into a language that I didn’t know of. Like at first she was pointing at Prim and asked if she was the cause of camp–just like you asked, but then…yeah”
“What language?” Nico asked, Rachel shook her head.
“I’m not sure but I think it matches this––” She went over to her nightstand where a composition notebook was on top, “I asked for guidance before I came here last month after my dream and there were these words that popped into my mind, I wrote it down here, but I can’t even read it, it’s in another language that I think was the same one Ella spoke in, I told Chiron about this during the council meeting, after–” she stops mid-sentence and shakes her head as though she wanted to get rid of a bad memory.

“He didn’t know what it said, even before that, I tried looking at the big house library but couldn’t find what language it was, and when I showed it to Ella–well she almost ripped the pages out because she didn’t understand it either, I guess whatever she knew was translated but she won’t tell me, this was what I wrote over here was the last bit of English” Rachel flipped through some of the pages before handing it to Nico, Hazel walked over to see what it said.
In the corner of the notebook Rachel had written; “for dead’s spawns must kill the destiny of an enemy to the God’s of unground vow who must break the deal.”
“And this is what I wrote before she told me that” She then flips the other page forward to show them. Right away Hazel recognized the handwriting, it was in the same script as the one on the front page of the Bible Nico had.
Hazel was about to tell her this but Nico beat her to it in addition to cussing in Italian, “This is not good, this is not good! It is connected!” he looked angry but not the kind she knows, he also had the sight of horror in his eyes, “Rachel, I know what this means”
“You do?” Rachel looked stunned, “Hades gave him a Bible, and on the first page…” Hazel trailed off her words because Nico had already taken out the book from his coat and showed Rachel the first page of it.

She held it up to compare the writing side by side, “How, No it can’t be–” she cuts herself off when Nico then showed her the page where the annotation was and then whispered something in her ear, it wasn’t audible enough for Hazel to hear it but Rachel suddenly looked frozen, her green eyes widening in a panic, then in a second she instantly dropped both the Bible and notebook and grabbed Nico by his shirt, speaking in Ancient Greek, the tone was angry but upsetting, Hazel couldn’t make out much as to what Rachel said.
“Hear. Don’t. Nico. Mad. Me”
What?
The action of seeing this made Hazel take out her Spatha and lean it toward Rachel’s face “Don’t hurt him!” Hazel pushed her back, Rachel stumbled back and bumped through the table with the cards on it, only one fell to the floor, she picked it up, then stared at it for a second before starting to breathe heavily, tears coming out her eyes, “Nico, what did you say to her?” Hazel looked at Nico who appeared to be worried, “I-I can’t tell you” He too was starting to cry, “Why? what did you do!?”
“Go find Percy, now! Tell him you want to know!”

Chapter Text

Hazel:

She was expecting Percy to tell her what was going on in the cave, that if he knew what Rachel had said or maybe if Nico told him about the Bible and there’s now a whole plot hole to solve?

She didn’t expect to summon a mountain of gold that could make her horse companion, Arion, a thrilled boy. After reading a prison file that Percy made her swear on the River Styx to not tell anyone. She cried and slouched on the floor of Cabin 3, where Percy and Annabeth stood, “this was what Nico told Rachel? That he knew?” she wiped her face, and Percy handed her a blue handkerchief.
“Is he over there right now?” he asked.
Hazel nodded, standing back up, before she read what was on the folder, she had already informed them what she knew about Rachels’s journal and the first page of the Bible which only tensed Percy to take her to his cabin with Annabeth following behind.

“d-does he know? Leo?”
Percy shakes his head, “It’s best if he doesn’t find out” Annabeth agreed. It was still hard for Hazel to understand, she had to ask him to explain.
“What would happen if she got her memory back?”
“I don’t know, Mr. D has been training her to regain it, he said that he’ll know what to do when it happens,” Annabeth said as they walked back outside where everyone was starting to get ready for the Canoe race, Hazel had almost forgotten about the activities that were planned out for the campers.

“Hazel!” She heard Frank call out for her, she turned and saw a pigeon fly to her, the bird shifted into her boyfriend wearing a red t-shirt to match his Greek siblings, “What’s wrong, you look like you were just crying” he cupped her face, then turn to look at Percy and Annabeth, “What did you do to her?” he said in a worried tone, “Nothing to worry about” Hazel said taking his hands into hers, “some emotional girl stuff Annabeth and I were discussing, Percy was just nearby” she lied, she hated lying to Frank, but she knew that he wouldn’t handle the wrenching feeling she had when reading Prim’s file if he could.

“You guys!” someone else called out, it was Will running up to them, “Hazel have you seen Nico?” he said catching his breath, she was about to tell him where her brother was but right then, Nico and Rachel showed up.
“Does she know now?” Nico asked Percy who nods, “Okay, Come on Hazel” He reached for her arm, “We have to stop by somewhere, we’ll be back” Rachel informs them then reached over to take Annabeth’s hand and give her the Tarot card she had earlier, it was facing up but Hazel couldn’t see what it was “I hope I’m not wrong, this is in 24 hours, keep an eye on her, both of you” they both looked at it and nod as if they knew who Rachel was referring to.

“Wait what’s going on?” Will stopped the three from leaving, “Explanation later, I promise Will” Nico then gave him a squeeze on the shoulder before he ran with Hazel to wherever Rachel was guiding them.
“Wait, are we still on for Karaoke!?” Frank shouts.
“Yes, we’ll be back before it!” Nico replied for Hazel as they made their way to the back side of the big house, where the Camp vans were normally parked, a bright red convertible was parked at the front end with a license plate that read, ‘Dare Me’ on it.

“Where are we going?” Hazel asked seeing that they were getting inside the car.
“The New York Library, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!–seatbelts” Rachel tells them as she stared at the car.
~*~
Rachel nor Nico spoke throughout the whole ride, which drove Hazel into zoning out, although half of her was still jumpy over wanting to ask what this now has to do with either Prim, the written language in the Bible, or with the problems at both camps.
They parked almost two blocks away from where they were supposed to be, just in general New York parking sucks worse than California.

Rachel's focus was more on her notebook in which she was starting to mutter to herself and draw something in it. Hazel couldn’t see what was sketched due to the many people they were all passing through to get to the library, she has walked passed this particular place before during a tour around the city with Annabeth and Piper but they never went inside.

“What are we doing here?” Hazel finally asked, they stopped mid-walk from the stairs so they could catch their breaths from running past the busy road. Rachel quickly shut the book and turned to face them “Okay this may sound crazy but, you know how libraries are known to be more than just a place to store books?”
“Yeah,” Hazel nods.

“My gift of sight not only lets me see through the mist but every mist from different pantheons, there was this one time I passed by here and felt the same energy I’d feel seeing different forms of mist, this library happens to collect everything from them, perhaps they have something that might give us a clue to translate this” Rachel held up the notebook in her hand, then continued up the stairs, Nico stayed quiet the entire time, looking around the designs inside the building, Hazel was also astonished by the sight of it, none compared to the ones in temples in New Rome.

When they made it further inside, it looked like any other library with people sitting down, studying, or reading, but Rachel was staring at an empty bulletin board, mumbling to herself, her eyes shifted around like she was reading something, then she took them further to where they found stairs and then much more statues and signs all around.
Hazel wondered if Rachel was seeing other things that Nico and she couldn’t, because of the many corners she was leading them that had begun to appear out of nowhere were more sections to the library. “How do you know where we’re going?” Nico said, “They're telling me where it is–this way” She grabbed them both and pushed them inside two large doors that opened. It looked like any boring office with cubicles everywhere only somehow no one was in them, a large front desk was in the middle with also no one there.
Rachel stood still for a second then looked around, “I was expecting it to be more…historical” she says looking disappointed.

The front desk had one of those tapping bells, Nico tapped on it to see if anything happens, but nothing. “Hello?” Hazel said looking over the desk, thinking that the worker was napping or something, but no one was there.

“Greetings,” a voice behind them says, causing each of them to jump and scream, “oh my, my apologies for scaring you like that,” the voice said sounding female, they turned around and saw the strangest creature ever, not a human-like a form, nope. Just a giant floating eyeball with wings.
“Who are you?” Hazel said
The eyeball didn’t blink, “My name is Noa, What can I help you with?”
“Wait, are you a Biblically Accurate Angel?” Rachel asked curiously, Noa didn’t say anything rather just spread out her wings to fly above them and towards the desk, “Oh goodness no, We are often mistaken as them but we aren’t Rachel Elizabeth Dare”

“How did you know my name?”
“I know everyone’s name, I’m a Glode, I am the collector of wisdom, and everyone's information is given directly to me when they step foot here. I may answer only four of your questions each about anything you want, after that, I am no help until the next visit” Noa said as she gestures to the building or in this case looked around through the iris of her eye, her voice did began to sound more bored as though shes said this before over a million times, perhaps that was her job here.

“T-that’s amazing,” Hazel says, afraid to ask what exactly is a Glode.
“Why thank you, Hazel Marie Levesque”

“Look we’re here to see if there’s anything that could help us find some answers,'' Nico tells the Glode as Rachel pulled out her notebook again and showed Noa the page with the writing.

“Do you happen to know what it says?” Hazel asked fumbling with her fingers, the eyeball bowed indicating a yes, “It appears to me that it’s a mix between a made-up language with the syllables being divided into 6 dead Languages all in order, dating way back to the B.C era, Where did you get this?”
“Doesn’t matter, can you tell us if it could be translated?” Rachel responded quickly, “According to what I can see, the languages you can translate here are Sanskrit, Sumerian, Biblical Hebrew, Old Scandinavian, Gothic, and Coptic, you could find out more about it down at level 15 in the language department”
Hazel wanted to sigh in relief, finally getting an answer but instead, her jaw dropped when realizing the dead languages are very much impossible to translate.

“Wait why can’t you just tell us about it?” Nico asked, “I’m afraid I can not assist you with that Niccolo, the languages are sacred knowledge only their kinds or worshipers of it could read it. I, on the other hand, don’t follow that path of beliefs”
“Then where is the language department exactly?” Rachel interrupts, “You may take the stairs, pass by the Psychological myths and the History storages then take a left” Right next to Noa, appeared a holograph map that showed the direction of where they were supposed to go.
They were just about to leave when Nico stopped them and looked back at the Glode, “Wait, we’ve only answered eight questions, and we each get four, right?” he asked, Noa again nods/tilted herself, “Correct, and that was question number 3 from you, Niccolo Di Angelo”
Nico stepped forward close to the Glode, “Answer me this, what’s going on at our camps, why are some of us experiencing these-”
“Pains? Loss of magic? Mood swings? Sleep? Your feelings are only related to those with the deities that are connected to the underworld, you and your sister share a Godly parent path, and he happens to be the one responsible for the cause of this”

“What? Why?”
“If I’m correct a prophecy will be given if not––has already been received, that was the last of your questions” The Glode showed a gesture that she was no longer interested in talking to Nico, instead turned to see Hazel who she knew there were only 2 questions left for herself, she felt too afraid to say anything although knew to use it wisely, but what could she ask?

Rachel handed Hazel the notebook where an open page was, revealing a drawing. By taking a closer look, Hazel felt the chills run through her back when she saw that it was actually a sketch of Prim.
“You wouldn’t happen to know who she is?” she asked, the Glode let out a small gasp and then went silent for a few seconds when her wings started glowing a shade of blue, still staring at the drawing.
“She’s alive?”
“What?”
“I mean–Why yes I do know her, August 17th, 2006 at 2:47 pm on a Thursday, she–” Noa cleared her voice–or in this case made it sound like she was, given that she doesn’t have a mouth, “Given that she has been here before and our policy doesn’t allow us to spread information about those who’ve previously came to ask questions like you are, I’m afraid that I can not give out her information to you without her consent.”
Hazel sensed that Nico and Rachel were just as confused as she was, “What do you mean? She’s been here before? When?” Hazel gave her last question.

“You already used the last of your question, have a good day” Noa flapped her wings to the side, rather than motioning them to leave the room now.
Knowing that they didn’t want to cause trouble with how the Glode's wings now turned red, the three of them politely bowed to the eyeball and saw their way out of the door.

***
Nico
He didn’t want to admit what he was seeing inside the library but it was much worse than not being able to feel spirits and ghosts floating around and talking. Nico had forgotten what it felt like to hear their voices everywhere, since the night terrors happened he hadn’t been able to feel any ghost presence not even the Lares at Camp Jupiter who disappeared when he got there.

Nico thought back to the floating eyeball, having never seen something like that before, the way it stared at him gave him the creeps, but now that he knew a bit more information than what he hoped for, however, he didn’t feel relaxed about it, he has even more questions to ask, both about Prim and about that prophecy. He questioned why someone/something that has knowledgeable wisdom can’t tell them more information. Then again he questions a lot about this world and the many non-given answers to it.

He followed Rachel and Hazel to the Language department passing where they are supposed to be going. None of them spoke about what they were all already assuming, instead, he took notice of the room nearby that read Pantheon’s myth in Ancient Greek, apparently, any sign you read around here translates itself into the language you want.

“Hey look at that,” Rachel says pointing at the glass door where a warm glow shined around it, they could see from the inside bright clouds of colors floating everywhere, “This is the Thoughts department,” Hazel said seeing the sign on top of the door. Through the window, Nico saw another Glode Eyeball at the front desk only this one had rainbow wings and the iris kept changing into different colors, it also had hands that floated around the eye.

Nico shook the thought of him wanting to go in but knew that it would be a waste of time. He already had intact his own thoughts and memories after getting them back from bathing in the Lethe river when he was 9-years-old, his father told him that some small memories might not come back yet but they would when he was much older, which Nico calls bogus in needing to wait so long for that to happen, already 18 years old and can’t remember the other little things in his life.

“Common let’s go to where we’re here for” Hazel grabbed his hand to guide him and Rachel away from the door. He regained consciousness from the memory loathe when they found a much larger room filled with people and ghosts walking around. “This place is huge,” Rachel said, seeing that there was no front desk anywhere but just people reading books and talking, so much for it being a library that’s supposed to be quiet.
“I think we’re supposed to find the answer ourselves?” Nico said looking at the rows of shelves, everything looked in alphabetical order, but then in much more other alphabets from other languages.
“Okay well, Noa said that the language was Sanskrit, Gothic, Sumerian, Coptic, and… what were the other two? One of them starts with an S–I think?” Rachel bit the bottom of her lip, “Biblical Hebrew and Old Scandinavian” Nico answered, they went towards the S section which had much smaller shelves dedicated to other things that are from that letter.
“This might take a while” he sighs.

They went on to check the Historical section, then the Mythical section, but nothing, all of the books were in the exact language but nothing translated to it. In the Religion section, they did manage to find something there when Rachel groaned and asked out loud for anyone to help find Sanskrit.
A girl no older than 13 showed her where the ancient writing section was, then ran off to where another girl was sitting by the couches reading.

“Why are we stupid?” Rachel moans marching her way to that section area, “it’s the sleep deprivement” Nico claims following behind her and hearing Hazel chuckle behind him. “Here's one!” Rachel chants holding up a book, “Sanskrit the words of the Gods” She opened the pages to start reading, Hazel went over to look behind her shoulder but quickly shut the book, “And it’s not translated” Rachel tossed the book behind her, suddenly hitting someone, “Ow!” they turned around to see a man dressed in a white suit.

Nico held onto the sword in his jacket in case this person was a monster in disguise. “You shouldn’t be throwing books all around, it’s not helpful and it won’t get you anywhere,” the man says picking up the book to hand it to them, the three say sorry at the same time.
“I noticed you were all having trouble with finding a book, have you checked the help desk?”
“There is no help desk,” Nico says, “oh, of course, there isn’t, I’m the help desk” The man extended his hand, “my name is Akila, the man with all words,” he says “Uh- I am Rachel Dare, my colleagues and I are trying to find a certain book that could translate a few languages for our uh–assignment, we were informed by a Glode to come here” Rachel tried to say in a professional tone, the kind that makes her sound mature for her age.

“Oh those Glodes, always leaving out the rest of the information to leave others wanting to know more” Akila shakes his head, “you know they don’t get paid much as we do, but I’m glad you’ve come to the right direction” he motioned for them to follow him, leading them to the P section where stacks of books were everywhere, much more than the ones in the library at the big house.
“By what needs are you three interested in starting a Pantheon War?”
“What?” Hazel says confused, “Well by the auras you each carry, you are in search of a translation for a sacred language that only those who want chaos are known for, anyone else would be sane enough to just learn the full deal instead of coming here to absorb the knowledge, your search is much more than an average college assignment I can see” the way Akila mentioned it, sounded serious.
“Like what do you mean by the full deal?” Rachel spoke for all of them, Akila looked at her judging, “You are a mortal with a gift and your friends are from the Greek and Roman territory, considering your camps will in fact be the cause of the challenge” The man shrugs, “The cause of what challenge?” Nico felt his heart sink, ‘This can’t be true’ he thought to himself, remembering back to what Noa had said, that his father was the cause of this issue at both camps.
Akilas eyes widen “Oh dear, I’m assuming that you haven’t been told the prophecy? Biscuits!”
“What was the prophecy,” Nico said through gritted teeth, already in anger about this, “I can’t tell you, this may be a library but we are limited with what to give you, even my companions are much more aware of that. I’ll lose my job” he began to hyperventilate.

Rachel stood there in much need of threatening the man to tell them but suddenly her face lit up in panic Nico knew she had put two and two together, “the prophecy is about a war against another pantheon?” she says under her breath, Akila took a step back, the confidence in his face had drained.
“Which one?” Hazel tried to grab Akila but he quickly turned away before pulling out a knife to stab her, Nico acted quickly and dragged both Rachel and her out of the P Section, Akila was now running after them, “I’m sorry I have to do this” he tossed the knife to hit them just as Nico had found a shadow in the corner of the desk lamp, no smaller for a toddler to hide under––close enough.

The three were pulled through the shadow of the corner and into the skinny shadow of a lamppost from the street across the library.
He didn’t feel weak right after, Hazel’s energy somehow balanced him when it comes to that. Nico turned to see her but she wasn’t looking too well now, he forgot that absorbing her magic would weaken her. “Ahh” Rachel was grasping her rib where blood began to form, “Come on we need to get you both to the car–” he cut himself off hearing a loud roar coming near them, the New York Public Library has two lion statues that seem to have come to life and run after them. “Run!”

Nico immediately picked up Hazel to carry her on his back, they ran as fast as they could, to the other block, “over here” Rachel motioned over the corner of the block to where a store was, next to it was her car. “I think we lost them” she breathed, but they weren’t in the clear, the lions jumped on top of the red convertible. “My Car!” she groans while clenching her side, Nico rolled his eyes, now taking Rachel’s hand to shadow jump into another dark corner of the store, ending up at a dark alley.
“Empire State Building?” he asked before collapsing.

Chapter Text

Prim:

I had a memory come back to me, it was about my father, only this time it had left me unanswered with multiple questions.
Most of them I recover are when I was around 4 to 7 years old, they don’t go in order and mostly come at random to me. But this one felt insanely different.

I felt to be present in this memory, I was able to feel the warm afternoon breeze that the state of Michigan had, I knew it was Michigan because of the crops nearby, Dad said that they were best known for their agriculture and fishing, which was what 6-year-old me was sitting near at the grand lake. I couldn’t see my face but my best guess was that I was probably crying, my grey beine was covering my eyes which was something I always use to do when I was upset.

“There you are” I heard my father’s voice behind me, his tone was settled, something rare to hear from him, I didn’t look up to see his expression, he knew I wasn’t going to talk. Except I can’t remember what it was that made me not speak.

He sat down next to the younger me who was sitting crisscross on the grass. The younger me was clutching something in my hands, an old orange shoebox, the one with a checkmark on the side, Nike. My tears were wetting the top of the box like raindrops. He tried to move the beine up from my head, a gesture for me to know that I needed to listen if I didn’t want to look at him
Young me kept on sobbing “It’s not your fault, it is never your fault Priy” The way he tells me this, I’ve heard it more than twice, more than Thrice. Yet I still couldn’t help but feel this type of pain attacking me. I use to think it was Karma happening everywhere I went, even when I was nowhere near trouble. If he says that it’s not my fault, then why does it hurt after it happens?

“You still have so much to learn my child, this is just how life goes” he tried to cup my face to get me to look at him but my young self flinched from his touch in a hiss, revealing the large yellow and green bruise on my jaw alongside the swollen black eye and busted lip. He didn’t have a reaction to looking at me like this, at least not in the way I did; screaming at the sight of my young self. What the fuck happened to me? Who did this to me? How do I not remember this happening?
There was no chance my father would ever hurt me, he couldn’t have done this.

I had too many questions in my head that I didn’t have the answer to, I nearly missed what six-year-old me was saying.
“But why me?” my small voice cracked when shaking my head “I–-it hurts” My young self opened the box, and a brown bird lay there in a bed of cotton and leaves, its right wing was missing, it was sleeping…forever.
My father’s face looked sorry over the sight of the bird before looking back at me, “Someday when your old enough I’ll tell you, but for now, you’ll need to listen to Him, he knows what’s best for you” he tells me calmly as he closes the box “Come on, let’s go find a resting place for this little guy.”

I had tear stains on my face, when I regained reality, I didn’t bother to wipe them off when Georgie looked at me with worry. “Did I pull too hard? I’m sorry” She grabbed my hair and started undoing the braid. I gave her permission to do something with the long drag of my hair to distract me from everyone’s weird stares at the mess hall when we headed to breakfast that morning. Georgie however stood by my side like a bodyguard the whole time even though I told her not to but she wanted to be generous for doing it so I allowed her to give me a braid.

I didn’t say anything, rather just stare down at my plate of pancakes, I didn’t want to think about the new memory let alone wonder what actually happened to me that day. There was too much already for me to think about now.

Nico was nowhere in sight, thank the Gods. I still got the campers glancing at me but no fruit was being thrown, I kept my head low which was a mistake on my part cause Georgie had pulled my hair up to start all over again. Chiron announced that the activities are starting in an hour, everyone began to get up from their seats to go to their friends/siblings and discuss whatever their plans were.

“Excited for today!” Uva says all cheery, along with Pollux and Gavin stopping by our table, “Our first game is canoe racing, isn’t that awesome!”
”I guess,” I say without looking up at them, “are you still upset about last night?” She asked, I shrugged, hoping to not be bothered anymore, and go sit by the benches to watch the games.

“Well I don’t think you’re a child of Hades Prim, his aesthetic doesn’t suit you, plus Chiron hasn’t said anything about it so I believe you’re in the clear” Pollux held up an apple to give to me, I take it, letting it rest on my hand for a second––nothing happened but that was because I then threw it behind me, earning the sound of someone saying 'Ow! Who did that!?'
“So that at least proves something, besides that’s not how claiming works, usually a large symbol appears on top of your head or you get a makeover, then everyone bows to you and announces who your Godly parent is, I’ve seen it happen before.”
Uva snorts a laugh at Georgie’s comment “Easy for you to assume, my dad on the other hand just walked by, pointed at me, said ‘mine’ then walked away” She rolled her eyes, and Gavin nods in agreement, “He threw an empty can of diet coke at me to claim me as his”

Pollux tried to explain his claiming story but couldn’t stop laughing, “Castor and I were 8 when we were brought here, Dad was at the strawberry field while we got a tour, he took one look at us then said ‘well schist, I’m your father’” he said in a low grouchy tone to mimic Dionysus’s voice, it made everyone laugh except me, I found it funny but just couldn’t find it in me to laugh. There was still that faint glow of sadness on him, now everyone noticed it.

“Perhaps we can change the subject, we have a whole bunch of activities today like––The canoe racing, the obstacle tower, Lava rock tossing, karaoke, and a lot more that all lead up to the Chariot race this evening” Gavin pulled out a scroll from his fanny pack.

“Oh we have to do that Chariot race, Prim do you want to be partnered with me?”
Georgie pleaded, I was a bit hesitant at first, the last time I had been on a Chariot, I nearly died falling into the lake, not to mention that Percy had said that the Pegasus’ weren’t feeling too well so what if they get sick again?
“No, I don’t think so, I’ll be fine sitting on the benches,” I told her, she pouts then got up from the table. “Do you guys know how to take defense on a Chariot?” she asked the three who shook their heads, “We already have our teams” Georgie groaned and walked away, followed by the three as well, leaving me alone at the Hermes table.

~*~

I found Lavinia talking to Teddy and Annabeth by the lake where everyone was preparing their Canoe boats, they all had different colored t-shirts that didn’t say anything on it but they matched their boats, Percy’s was the biggest one, painted entirely blue to match his and Annabeth’s shirt, with the front of the boat being carved a weird horse-fish-thing, and enough to fit 7 people in it, except it was only him and his brother Tyson who is also wearing a blue T-shirt and sitting on the boat.

Lavinia and Teddy were both wearing white shirts, she happened to be waving her arms around in exaggeration, from whatever she and Annabeth were discussing, it didn’t look pretty, she slouched and kicked the dirt, then looked around, meeting my eyes, she pointed and said “You!” then ran up to me. I was hoping she meant someone else but there was only a large rock next to me.
“Prim–Oh thank the Gods, Listen Johnathan backed out at the last minute, we need a third member are you in? Please say yes!” she put her hands together in a pleading way.
“Uh–”
“Great! Come on you’ll need a bathing suit, some shorts, and a white T-shirt” She put her hands on my back and guided me to the small changing tent nearby. Somehow I didn’t flinch at her touch, it was more of a quick push when she shoved me inside, I wanted to tell her no, that I’ve done canoeing classes and I completely suck at it, plus I’m tall so my legs don’t go down all the way in the boat. Yet I was instantly switched into different clothes when standing at the tent except for my shoes but my belt was gone.

“It’s one of those instant change tents, Venus gave it to the camp when we would have our outings to the beach,” Lavinia said as I stepped out looking shocked.
She guided me over to her and Teddy’s boat which was white and painted with flowers and glitter around it, “Put this on, it’ll prevent us from drowning” she handed me a life jacket.

I looked around seeing that everyone was already taking their seats on the boats, the Demeter children were assigned Green, while the Ares kids had a dark red color with a large boar painted on the sides. Some of the Roman’s assigned colors were more of a design pattern that matched with the Greeks.
Chiron and Dionysus were standing by the dock blowing a whistle to get everyone’s attention and listing off the rules, “There’s only one rule, no killing, Now your task is to make it past that orange cone over there without titling the boat, the waves are going to be heavy, the Naiads will be in charge to bring you back if you fall, do I make my self clear!” Dionysus says, everyone started cheering–––I on the other hand couldn’t find where the orange cone was until Teddy pointed out that it was waaay over the other side of the lake, nearing the ocean side. The ocean.

I didn’t have time to focus on this, Chiron had already blown the horn and everyone began to paddle, Lavinia started shouting a few cuss words as we made our first hit through the waves under the bridge. Could lakes make waves? Nope, that was the Naiads, weird-looking creatures with yellow eyes and swampy hair, I’d seen them during canoe lessons.

“Come on you slugs! Move it!” I could hear from my left side Clarisse de la Rue is shouting at her siblings, as she sat at the front of her boat facing them, she was angry but showed no mercy, even when one of the siblings fell off the boat. On my right side, I saw the Stoll brothers along with two other campers already screaming for help as their brown boat began to sink, part of me wanted to go back and help them but the other said not to, and that was mainly because the white boat was hit with another wave of cold water.

“Faster!” Teddy shouts rowing quickly while switching sides. Passing us was Percy's boat with him, Annabeth, and Tyson, they weren’t even rowing but rather cruising by while Percy was making the water move as though it had a motor in it.
“No that’s cheating Jackson!” Lavinia calls out as they laugh.
“No rules here Asimov!” Clarisse tells her just as they too were passing us as well, behind their boat was a large Dolphin-Whale pushing them further, “Really Frank!'' Both Lavinia and Teddy shout at the Dolphin.

“Wait is that actually Frank?” I asked stunned, but another gush of cold water hits us, some of it I swallowed. “Less talking more paddling bitches!” Lavinia began to make another speech of curse words at us.
“How rude is she?” I gripped the paddle in my hand when hearing the voice, but they were right, I didn’t even ask for this, how competitive was this game anyways?
“Fine” I muttered, starting to row harder, pushing every small strength I had in me, I’m not strong but in no way am I weak at all.

My hard work of paddling didn’t seem to make an effort when another tide moved us into a spiral, I could see that we were going in circles quickly, and I did hear Teddy screaming “Whirlpool!” yet I didn’t know what to do.
I tried to stay focused, but it was hard when you are trying while the boat is spinning and two Roman demigods are screaming. “Wave!” one of them shouted as we were about to be hit by one, the boat might flip us over if it did. I could feel myself getting annoyed by the way my hands were shaking from the grip as a sense of anger was beginning to build up as I still gave every strength to try and paddle despite how cold I was starting to get from the water. At least my hair wasn’t on my face.

“What are you doing!?” Lavinia calls out, I didn’t know if she was referring to me or Teddy but I did something unexpected, standing up from the boat and slamming my paddle down to hit the wave with enough force that it lifted us several feet up in the air and colliding us back into the water with a pink boat near us. I didn’t realize how far we got with the tide but it managed to catch us up with a few other Roman boats.
My breathing was knocked out of my lungs by the burning that began to grow around me, I began to hit the side of the pink canoe, creating a dent. The campers on that boat started shouting while sinking but I ignored their anger.

Lavinia gasped “We’re close, come on quickly!” my concentration instantly faded away from everyone. I was rushing with the energy I never knew I had, and it felt amazing, I wanted to keep wrecking things, breaking them with this type of force. “Watch out!” Lavinia screams ducking as another wave was about to lift our boat again, I thought fast and used the force on the paddle again to swarm the wave to the other side, hitting 4 more boats across from us.

“D-did-did you just do that?” Teddy asked wide-eyed, pointing at the campers that fell into the lake, some were now cursing and screaming at us, or should I just say to me?
I was about to speak but began to feel weak as though all that energy I had went away like a light switch, causing me to feel dizzy and fall back which was followed by tilting the boat and throwing us all off with a loud splash. Luckily I had the life jacket on cause a doggie paddle wouldn’t get me anywhere.
“Oh–Come–On!” Lavinia coughed out the lake water, she splashed around to get the Naiad’s attention. “I’m drowning!” Teddy says trying to swim, his life jacket seemed to have fallen off, I reached over to grab him by the collar of his neck while I held onto a Naiad who was ready to take us back.
I never realized how fast the speed of a Naiad could swim but here we were, already back to the shore of the camp, the other campers came by to help us up at the dock but quickly stopped when seeing one of the other boats come back, perfectly in tacked, “first place goes to the Red team!” Chiron announces blowing the horn.

Everyone else ran up to them, while Lavinia, Teddy, and I had to climb back up to the docks by ourselves, Percy’s boat returns just then as well, though he didn’t seem mad, rather he cheered for the second place and high-fived his brother and girlfriend. “Well, we lost our boat” Lavinia sighs, her hair now on her face, “but I’ll admit it was fun”
Fun? I swallowed half of the lake, how is that fun!?

“What about you tiny Spawn what do you think?” she asked Teddy who was trying to lean onto me but I pushed him aside when I noticed that his face matched the color of the lake, he didn’t look too good.
Georgie came running up to us, holding towels, “you guys must be cold, here” she hands us each one, I slung it over my shoulder still not feeling too well, my head was pounding. “I thought you were going to sit by the bench Prim, what happened?” I pointed at Lavinia, annoyed and knowing to never be near her.

Teddy gasped behind me, “What?” Lavinia and I say at the same time, except I turned to look at him, expecting to see that he saw the other campers arriving with their boats either smashed or also perfectly intact. Instead, I felt a warm gush of whatever he ate this morning splashed onto me. “Oh, my gods” he coughed covering his mouth to try and not get more of his vomit on me. My instant reaction was just to keep my eyes wide and my emotion inside, preventing me from strangling the kid. I didn't want to feel angry because of this (even though it was starting to build up inside me). So I just stood still, waiting for this feeling to die down.

“Good game huh?” Percy came up to us with Annabeth behind him, both were dry, unlike us, “Fun as always” Lavinia jokes in a sarcastic tone, taking off her white t-shirt to squeeze out the water, she had a rainbow bathing suit under her, “although I’ll need to talk to Chiron and see if we could add two more rules into this game for next year.” she sighs and pats Teddy on the back.
“I going to change out of this” was all I managed to finally say, taking a few steps away from all of them to try and leave the dock as I took off my white T-shirt, revealing a black bathing suit under it, an odd choice that magic tent had given me.
Another sound of gasp came this time from Percy and Annabeth behind me.

“Holy Poseidon” Percy muttered, I looked back to see the five of them come up to me, “Prim, is that a tattoo?” Annabeth asked, “what?” I say confused.
“T-that’s a trident, you have a trident symbol on your back” Percy suddenly didn’t look too scared unlike Annabeth, there was a smile almost curving up his lips. I tried to think back, remembering that I’d seen the mark he meant, when I was at the Waystation after a shower, thinking that it must’ve been a birthmark, but–no, I do remember seeing someone else with a mark like this, but I can’t jot the memory of who it was. Was it my father?

Percy quickly showed me his wrist where a similar symbol was there, only it was a lot darker, along with four black lines under it. But mines didn’t have that, “What’s going on here?” Dionysus walked over seeing that we all were just standing here, the crowd suddenly wasn’t being loud anymore, and everyone was heading over to the next field for the other activities.
Percy quickly spun me around to show my back to the God. Great more gossip to say about me.

I turned back, swatting his arm off of me, “Don’t touch me!” I tell him annoyed, “Mr. D this was what Georgie was telling us about,” Annabeth said.
“What?” my eyes went straight to Georgie “Who told you!?” I say a little too loud, “I-I didn’t mean to, I accidentally saw it when I braided your hair.” her eyes became glassy with tears.
“Huh, well that explains the waves you made” Lavinia crosses her arms, Percy looked a little too happier now, “That was you! You did that!” He tried to come closer to me for a hug but I stepped back, "I didn't make those waves, I just pushed them" I try to say in defense.
Dionysus scoffed and made a can of soda appear in his hands, “it just looks like a birthmark to me” he shrugs, there was a bit of a change in his voice.
“But it’s not, look” Percy took out a paper card and showed it to the God who rolled his eyes, “Rachel gave this to us, she said it’s today, and that right there proves to be my father’s symbol, this has to mean something” he looked back at me.

“Prim, you were surrounded by monsters when we found you, we knew you were one of the big three, this means you're Poseidon’s daughter, my sister! ––Tyson! We have another sister!'' Percy shouted towards the other side where the Cyclops was. Percy's smile was bright, as he tried to grab my shoulders but I moved away from him, trying to cover the mark with my towel before anyone else could see it.
“Sister!” The loud voice of a Cyclops says behind me, coming over with his arms open, “Wait–No Tyson.” Annabeth quickly pushed me to the side and back into the lake before the Cyclops could touch me. For the first time, I’m actually glad she did that.
“She hasn’t been properly claimed yet, we’re not sure if she’s Poseidon's” she says trying to stop him from also jumping into the lake.
“But she is, Annabeth the trident mark–” Dionysus cut him off, in a snappy tone.
“She isn't–end of the story, now somebody get Pansy out of the lake, time to get the next activity going” he snaps his fingers but didn’t disappear this time, instead the God just walked away.
Lavinia helped me up after I ignored Georgie’s hand, I couldn’t believe her, no. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what to feel right now, I get that she must’ve been curious but she could’ve just asked me and we would have found out what it was without this drama. I still haven’t told her the other things that have been happening to me, like the healing and Apollo possibly being the one who’s my Godly parent.

Nothing was beginning to make any sense.

Chapter Text

Hazel

They both were feeling a lot better after the chaos that happened at the library, although neither of them brought it up, especially after carrying Nico to the bench at a nearby park, Hazel had almost dropped him when she saw what was plastered on the light poles.

Rachel took that moment to go to the little store down the street to calm herself from seeing the black-and-white picture while Hazel ripped it off and crumbled it into her pocket. Rachel returned a few minutes later with cans of coconut water and a large brown bag of white powder cookies. They didn’t speak for the next few hours, waiting for Nico to wake up as he lay with his head on Hazel's lap.

“I’m sorry about your car,” Hazel broke the silence feeling annoyed over the memory of what they went through earlier, “eh, I’ll just get a new one…again” Rachel shrugged, grabbing a cookie from the brown bag.
Hazel glances over at the watch Nico had on, seeing that time has gone by quickly, there wasn’t much sun in the sky, just partly cloudy with a decent breeze that gave her goosebumps. She reaches over to his jacket where he kept the bible in the side pocket, she flipped through the pages to try and find the previous annotation verse to give to Rachel, however, she found another section that took her by surprise, a separate space in between the pages was something written down in red ink.

“The night will come ahead, for His new son shall take forces with the enemy's blood, consuming thys legacies of others to be whole, the pint of destructions wrath, a gram of coldness from dull, shall drag loved ones last words and fill a last drop till full, the son shall reopen the grounds to free our fallen souls”

“This wasn’t here before,” she tells Rachel passing the Bible to her, there wasn’t anything interesting on the note, other than the word His being underlined twice. She took a long look at the passage “Huh, this looks…strange––Where exactly did Nico get this?”
Hazel gave her the quick version of what she knew from what her brother told her. She knew it might add up to when the Glode told the three of them that Hades was responsible for the situation that was happening.

It questioned Hazel most about how did all this involved Hades?

“If I’m correct, this note wasn’t talking about the His as in Him” Rachel points up to the cloudy sky, “but rather a different His” Rachel started to look through the book, stopping at the back page of it. “The Gemini,” she said.
“What?”
“The person who originally owns this, their name is the Gemini, or they call themselves that at least” She handed Hazel back the book where at the lower corner of it was engraved the words; “Property of The Gemini.”
The blank page that was next to it had another handwriting written down in which Hazel could only notice that whoever wrote it seemed to be in a hurry.

58 McHaness St, New Jersey–– Nile Adams

“That must be their name,” Rachel said taking a closer look at it, Hazel had a chill run down her spine, she knew the name sounded familiar, but couldn’t seem to place it together.
It suddenly hits her, the thoughts returning to when Ella had mentioned something about it, but it still felt blurry after her last encounter with the Harpy.

“Ella said something about the Gemini once, it had something to do with finding it and flowers I think?”
“I don’t like the sound of Finding, are you sure she didn’t say a passage from one of the books she reads, like the Hyghest Theory? Or Zodiac charts?”
Hazel shakes her head, “she sounded serious when she said it” Rachel closes her eyes and takes out her tarot cards, “let me ask the cards” She sat on the ground shuffling the deck, mumbling to herself something that Hazel doesn’t understand. “Why are you communicating through the cards anyway?” She had asked reaching over to grab another cookie.

“No idea, ever since that dream with the fates, my only way of communication with the Spirit of Delphi is through these, it could mean a lot of things, but if you are patient enough then the cards will tell you themselves” Rachel shrugs shuffling the cards over and over again, three cards had fallen off her hands and landed on top of her lap, perfectly facing up, her face dropped when she looked at them.

“What is it?” Hazel could sense the concern when Rachel flipped over the cards for her to see, “The Chariot, The Fool, and The Heirphortant.” She gave her a confused face “Explanation?”
“No–we should wait until we get back to Camp, I’ll need to double-check something, The cards don’t lie, but…I forgot I gave a card to Percy. I need the full deck to recheck,” Rachel took out her notebook to see the page with the script on it, then began to write something down.
“The card you gave him, what was that about?” Hazel asked her the thought suddenly crossed back to her mind as she watched the Oracle put the cards away, minus the three that fell.

She bit her bottom lip, “I gave Percy the card of The Tower because I thought we were going to find out today if there's a claiming, but I was wrong––we got a prophecy instead” her voice was barely audible for Hazel but she heard it and was still confused.
“But you didn’t go all…glowy yet, what if–”
“There’s no if, Hazel, I can feel it, I think I know why I didn’t receive it earlier, the Spirit of Delphi was trying to protect me from it, the prophecy has already been told just not to me but someone or something else, we need to get back to camp as soon as Nico wakes up” Rachel clenched her chest when she said his name as if she was feeling, the same one that Nico and Hazel shared over the past few weeks.

Nico started to groan in his sleep, fidgeting in small jumps, he must be having the Aches again, Hazel quickly grabbed the brown bag of cookies and shoved one into his mouth, hoping that it would wake him up.

***
Nico

Nico was dreaming; not the usual ones he has, it wasn’t even the one related to his night aches. The sleep caught him off guard but eventually, he found himself standing at the corridor of Olympus.

“Why am I here?” He managed to ask the question to himself seeing the throne room where 10 of the Gods of Olympus sat, arguing and screaming. Nico jumped back when seeing them all there, at first he thought they were all arguing directly at him but it wasn’t until the Gods and Goddesses were directing the name, Zeus.

“ENOUGH!” boomed the God, causing lighting to hit the outside of the realm. Everyone stood quiet. Nico took a seat by the smaller row of chairs nearby.

He could tell that this was apparently a discussion that was occurring at the moment over at Olympus, judging by Hera's resting bitch face.
The tear stains on Demeter.
The upset stare Hermes was giving.
The tattered flames Hephestus was sparking in his hands.
The anger on Artemis’ face.
Athena annoyed look while her arms are crossed.
Aphrodite biting into her manicured nails.
And the impatient leg shaking on Ares.

But what gave much of a shock to Nico was seeing Apollo tied down to his throne with red chains and an unrecognizing look of sadness in his eyes. A glow of light appeared on the empty throne next to Aphrodite. Dionysus seemed tensed by whatever happened to him earlier.
“I see that you all started the meeting without me––typical” He shakes his head “What is it now? Have you all finally made up your mind?”

Everyone turned to face Zeus, who didn’t look pleased by the comment. “He’s not going to budge Zeus, He won’t answer any of our messages, we have to talk about this now!” Demeter wept as she blew her nose in a handkerchief. Zeus slid his hand through his face sighing, “Must these rules be broken?”

“Well, you surely know about rule-breaking” Hera rolled her eyes, “Here you were accusing all of them! Including me!”
“I already apologized, what more do you want from me, woman!” they both began to argue back and forth, causing another round of all the Gods to start shouting and throwing things at each other, Nico ducked as a white folding chair flew across the room.

All he could do was watch it happen until someone kicked the door open.
“Oh well look who it is” Ares threw his hands up enraged.
“Good to see you too, I’m much more pissed than every single one of you” Poseidon groaned taking a seat on his throne, “why am I here?”

“Care to explain this” Dionysus motioned his hand over to the flame where an image was reversing, Nico squinted at what it was, seeing her face appearing in the flames. The scene must have been from earlier during the day at the canoe race.

She looked clearly drawn off from any emotion, standing up confidently as a wave was about to throw her, Lavinia, and Teddy off their boat.
But Prim hit the wave through with an impressive amount of force that Nico’s jaw dropped open. Had this been in a different circumstance he would have been amazed––but he’s not, rather Nico found it terrifying.

Poseidon took a closer look at the flame, rubbing his chin in a thinking posture. Nico watched as the flames kept rewinding again but from the beginning, the way the three had paddled through the lake until they got caught in a whirlpool, to then being thrown up in the air and hitting another wave.

“Impressive” the sea God gave a nod, Nico held his breath, which wasn’t necessary but he did it anyway. “That’s not mine” Poseidon laid back on his throne, and all the Gods let out an exasperated groan.
“That has pronouns you know! She, Her, Her’s” Aphrodite states pointing at the fire, “Well how was I supposed to know? I can’t keep up with every demigod you all pop out nowadays!”

“Are you absolutely sure she’s not yours?” Athena gave a glare towards Poseidon, “Certain, do the math” he fired back at her.

“I’m not saying that she’s yours” Mr. D interrupts, “I want to know if you had anything do to with what happened that night” his voice was direct, Nico’s only heard Mr. D speak like that when it’s towards Chiron or one of his children's at cabin 12, it was meant as something serious.
“No, Hephestus can bring out the lie detector again, I already told you guys where I was that day, I have nothing to do with it”

“He’s telling the truth” a small voice spoke from the rear of the fireplace, a smaller frame of a goddess sat there attending the flames with a stick. “We’re not going to get anywhere if we keep accusing one another,” Hestia tells them softly, “Even if we aren’t ready to explain that certain event” Her firey eyes looked up at the flames, and another image appeared, the Gods all watched in disbelief this time when Prim took off her white T-shirt that was mysteriously covered in vomit, she was facing away where it showed what was on her back, a trident symbol.

Nico was speechless, unable to understand what this meant, was she actually Poseidon's child? Or was this involving something worse? Something like the supposed war that’s about to happen?

“That’s impossible” Poseidon muttered, “How did she get that!” he stood up from his throne but was thrown back down by Zeus flicking his hand.

“Just when I thought there could be an agreement of peace, we are now thrown with this nonsense, I told you, you should’ve allowed me to take care of it as soon as that child stepped foot at camp,” Athena said wanting to stand up but Zeus forced her back down as well with just a turn of his hand.
“Silence daughter! This isn’t the time to start creating more of a dilemma–––this could explain why Hades caused our Roman realm to be affected”

“Must you blame our brother for everything” Hera scoffed.
“Yes, this time he crossed a line, a serious one for the matter after we all agreed to never come across one another's situations, especially that one particular pantheon. It’s no wonder the underworld is on lockdown” the God glanced back down at Hestia, “I suppose you might have a solution?”

“Not exactly–– my lord, as you said we must obey the rules you’ve placed, but I still believe we should go with my plan for the poor demigod, even if there's no claiming to be done”

“Well that’s the problem here, we don’t know if she is. So calling her a demigod sounds preposterous” Athena sighs turning her head back to Zeus who was looking at Mr. D.

“Well, as much as I want to break this rule, I can’t––However we could make an accommodation in regards to her” Zeus rubbed his face out of exhaustion.
“No! We had an agreement, she must regain those memories naturally before she’s sent on the quest”

Nico dug his nails into the palm of his hands, it was better than covering his mouth to prevent from screaming even though they wouldn’t hear it. ‘That can’t be right, a quest?’ He thought. The Gods were all hiding a quest from the demigods. Why would they do that? Then again, they are pretty much responsible for causing chaos like this to happen.

“How long will that take? Just fix her memory yourself for Olympus' sake!” Ares asked annoyed by the look on Dionysus's face. “It’s not that simple, we need her to side with us, one wrong move and they will know we have her”

Everyone stayed silent, looking at Zeus, waiting for what he’d say next. Nico was still puzzled with what was happening, he knew they were talking about Prim––of course.
He knew there was something about her that was unexplainable, like what landed her in prison, and now the strange force she created at the canoe race. But what did this have to do with the rules? With her siding with the Gods?

“Let her go on that quest, we’re running out of time” Hermes spoke, his hands shaking.
“But she needs to be claimed first?” Hera sat straight up. Nico knew what kind of stare she was making at Zeus “Are you saying that one of them will need to do it?”

“Nope, I opt out, I don’t want her” Hephestus held up both hands as a surrender.
“ME! I’LL DO IT!” Ares raised his hand.
“No! Father let me recruit her as a hunter, she’ll be out of the camp for good” Artemis stood up from her throne.
“She’s too pretty to be a huntress, I’ll be glad to take her in as mine,” Aphrodite said in her sweet voice.
“None of you are going to take her, I–” “Oh Fine, I’ll take her” Poseidon raises his hand, interrupting Demeter who gave him a death glare.

“No one is going to take her in…Hermes” Everyone looked at the God of Messengers. Hermes shook his head terrified at what Zeus was about to say, “I need you to go into the underworld and convince him, he’s the only one that could do it”
“B-But sir, if I go down there, I won’t be able to come back up––my children, they will–”

A loud crash stopped Hermes from speaking, the glass from the nearby window shattered as a large black box landed on the ground, and everyone (minus Apollo) stood up, holding their weapons as a defense. Even Nico held out his sword.

They all crowded over the box staring at it, “Hermes, open it” Zeus told him, the box hovered over to his side where Hermes laid out his shaky hands to receive it, he carefully opened the box, he gave a puzzled look before pulling out what was inside, a single red and green color feather.
“What does this mean?” Demeter clutched the sickle blade she was holding, “They know” Artemis mutters, “They’re warning us” Dionysus continued.

Athena spoke once more, “How long do we have?” Zeus looked ready to cause a storm, “As of now, 2 weeks” he marched back to the flames, “Are you sure this will work?” he asked Hestia, she gave him a small sigh, “It’s 50/50”
“Close enough” the God turned back to see the rest of them, “All in favor for the girl to go on the quest” They all raised their hands, except Hermes.
“No, no, Father please don’t!” Apollo pleaded, trying to move through the chains.
“Not you, you don’t count!” Zeus shouts, “Hestia” They all look at her, and she slowly raises her hand.

“Then it’s settled, everyone’s dismissed, except you” Zeus points at Hermes.
As soon as the other gods disappeared, Nico started to feel the dream blur, he panicked while looking around as Apollo was thrown into a deep sleep by the snap of Zeus' fingers.
Hermes looked ready to start pacing back and forth but Zeus gripped him by the shoulders, through gritted teeth he spoke, “what happened that night I gave you the envelope”

The dream went blank, Nico stood in a white background, the shifting point that dreams usually do before taking you to another one.

He saw someone standing in front of him, his half-sister Macaria–The Goddess of peaceful death. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, hello to you too, little brother” She gave him a warm smile, Nico suddenly didn’t feel comfortable at all. It was an utter shock to see her present in his dream, much to his surprise that she was even talking to him after the argument three years ago.

She caught up on what he was feeling “Oh––No, no, don’t worry I’m not here for your soul, I’m just here in the flesh–well–more like in the dream, I thought I could perhaps guide you into seeing that, instead of letting the aches drag you down, now that you know what Father has been up to” she faintly chuckled, before Nico could respond, suddenly feeling the familiar pain that was starting to form on his body.

“I don’t think I can hold the dream in much longer, but I needed to talk to you,” She said just as Nico was starting to flinch, her voice started to sound like static ringing through his ears. “Wha-Wha–” his breathing was starting to drop, she quickly grabbed him right when he was about to drop to his knees.
“I need you and Hazel to prepare the camps–––Shhhh––she will need to find the Gemini and bring––Shhhhh––Coredeen––Shhh––gather–Shhhh––Hades––die––Shhhh”

He heard a burst of screams just as he woke up by tasting something sweet being put in his mouth.

~*~

He felt glad to have woken up, likely Nico knew he had to tell them about it but he saw the scared look on both of the girl's faces, it said something else happened while he was out.

They all stayed quiet for a bit, waiting for him to finish recovering with the cookies and coconut water.
“Should I summon The Gray Sisters Taxi to get back? We probably missed the Karaoke by now,” Nico managed to speak after sensing the ache fading away. He checked the time, feeling bad for bailing out on Will for that.

“Actually we wanted to wait until you woke up so I could call for Arion to get here, but there’s something you should know before we get back, and as for the Karaoke, well–there’s still the Chariot race we can all do?” Hazel assures, Nico just sighs hoping his comfort could quicken before telling them about his dream first.

Rachel had to give a quick explanation to him, in a way to not make her panic like how she did back in the cave when Hazel went to go find Percy.

Surely he wanted to call this bullshit but the look on his sister's face was serious when Rachel finished explaining where they both left off before he woke up.

“The Gemini, that was what Macaria told me,” he said, “she said to find the Gemini but I couldn’t understand why” he ate the last of the cookies.
“Macaria? As in––”
“Yes her, she shifted my dream to Olympus” he interrupted Hazel before turning to look around their surroundings. They weren’t anywhere near The Empire State Building, let alone Central Park.

Nico looked back at Rachel “The Prophecy that Akila mentioned, is it actually about a war with a different Pantheon?”
“I’m not sure, I shuffled the Tarot cards and these three came up when–” Nico snatched them from her hands, he may not know much about tarot but if it gave he could connect them to something it could give him the hint.

“It’s about a quest” He muttered looking at them, “The Gods were talking about it, they want to Prim to go on it”
“Prim? Why her?” Rachel stood up, stomping her foot to wake it up.
“Wait, but wouldn’t she need to be claimed first?” Hazel said confused, Nico ran his hands over his hair, “Not exactly” he stood up as well.

“I think she’s not actually a Greek demigod, apparently this particular Pantheon we’re going to have a war with, she belongs to it, perhaps one that shares the same title as my father”
Rachel burst out laughing, “No, Nope, that’s impossible Niccolo, as the Camps Oracle, I can not be wrong, she’s part of the Greek realm”
Nico crossed his arms, “Are you saying that that girl is in fact his daughter?” Hazel placed her hand on his shoulder.
“Nico, doesn’t Hades have something to do with what’s going on right now?”

“But she can’t be! SHE CAN’T!” the grass that Nico stood on had disintegrated from his burst of anger. He wanted to cry but his emotions felt like they were going everywhere, Rachel had to be wrong, he knew what he witnessed at Olympus, he had to be right.
Hazel held up his hand to look down at his watch, seeing the time, “We have to go now, perhaps we can figure this out back at camp.”

From a distance, the sound of whinnying was coming close to them. Arion was a horse from the Greek stories, a fast runner, and the son of Demeter and Poseidon (don’t ask), he was also Hazel’s riding companion, who only consumes gold that she gladly gives him all the time.
He didn’t look too happy, having to carry the three of them to camp, but without complaint, (or as much as Nico could see) the horse brought them right back within 3 minutes.

“You both go find Mr. D and Chiron, tell them to meet us at the big house library, I’ll go see if Ella’s at the cave” Rachel states jumping off the horse as soon as Arion comes to a halt, she ran to her cave.
“Ah well look who it is” they heard Mr. D say, Nico let out a yelp looking at the God, and Hazel turned to look as well while trying to feed Arion a few gold nuggets. “Thought I saw the speed of a burning horse coming by”
Arion whinnied, “Yes, yes hello to you too” Mr. D didn’t seem to be in a good mood, or in his usual self at least.

“Mr. D–” Nico was silenced by the Gods hand being placed up, “Just because the camp is going through chaos, doesn’t mean you and your group can go can cause the same problem,” he tells them dryly, “Besides, you both weren’t at the activities all day, so I’ll have no choice but to put you two on the chariot race…like right now”

Chapter Text

I spent the rest of that day by the benches as all the campers rotated to new activities, watching as some get injured, lose, or win the games that put them through. Some may think it looks like a simple school Olympic Game like the ones my father and I would see when passing by public schools, but if you look close enough, you’d see someone with a flaming arrow hitting another camper.

My thoughts were somewhere else throughout the entire time, wishing that I could make myself smaller and hide from everyone, mainly Percy and Annabeth who have been watching me like a hawk, no scratch that––like a stupid Owl.

Chiron had once told me that all the demigods have ADHD because it’s from our battle senses, which has finally made me feel much better to realize I’m not that different from everyone else. But it makes people fidget and not stay in one place so straight-like, and that's what I kept seeing in Percy, as he ached for something to happen every time I caught him staring at me like I was going to blow up a toilet or something like that, Annabeth didn’t seem to be that happy at all over Percy's assumption.

What I did end up questioning was if the mark on my back meant anything related to Poseidon, he would either be my second father or mother-ish. I don’t think there was anything I ever did that leads me to believe I’m the sea God’s daughter.

I’ve been to the beach, lakes, and community pools but I can’t swim professionally like Percy does. I’m not scared of water––I couldn’t be. Dad once said it was normal to feel like you're nearly drowning, even when you're being held down against your will every few minutes for 10 hours after seeing something that you weren’t supposed to. I can’t remember what I saw.

By the end of the three-legged race, I noticed that word was starting to spread around about what happened at the canoe and the mark on my back, when I made my way to the girl’s bathroom, a group of Aphrodite/Venus girls was standing by the mirrors retouching their makeup and gossiping.
Only one had noticed me walk in but didn’t make it a big deal to shush her siblings. Instead, I walked back out and went to the gender-neutral bathroom or as I heard others call it the ‘we don’t care, just wash your dam hands’ bathroom.

I locked the door behind me to not let anyone come in while I tried to control a burning feeling that was starting to ache up in my chest. I leaned towards the sink my fist clenched together so tight my knuckles looked like they were losing circulation. I tried breathing in and out, my reflection in the mirror was in front of me, seeing for the first time the braid that Georgie did to my hair earlier.

I don’t think I’ve ever had my hair done like this before, it almost felt wrong to have it this way. Dad never let me grow out my hair long enough to even be braided or styled, I can’t remember the reason for it, but just the thought of that made me rethink the memory I had earlier when I was injured. It was clear that I didn’t have self-healing magic when I was younger, but I still can’t understand what actually happened to me.

“It’s not your fault, it is never your fault Priy,” I think back to my father’s words, they sounded like an echo.

I try not to think about him, I didn’t need to cry again. My hands started to untangle the braid, letting my hair fall back to its normal flow, or at least as normal as I can remember it being.

I had other thoughts, but they didn’t lead me anywhere else besides taking that moment to pull off the Camp HalfBlood shirt and take a closer look at the mark on my back, still as how I last saw it. How did I even get this? There was someone else who had the same reddish tone on the spine of their back. But who was it?

“You’ll find out soon, perhaps today if your lucky enough” The voice spoke, their voice felt close to me like it was speaking through the mirror I was facing. “Leave me alone, please” I whispered, a loud ringing started forming in my ears, the longer I stared at the reflection, the more I noticed a black figure appearing.

“STOP!” I managed to scream out, my fist shattering the mirror, sending shards everywhere on the floor and sink. There was pain aching my hand. My panting started to slow down just when the bleeding had stopped with the cuts disappearing, not even the sight of a bruise was there.

“Ey yo, who lock the door!? You Hypnos kids better not be hotboxing Mugwort in there again!” I jumped as someone calls out, banging on the door. Quickly I put my shirt back on and washed my hands as fast as I could before opening the door, not giving eye contact to the camper and walking directly out of sight so they wouldn’t see the mess I made.

~*~
When I went to find a seat at the amphitheater, I heard from the corner of the stage Will and Frank arguing with each other, they seem to be concerned over something.

“Where in Hades are they? Nico said they would be back before it starts” Will glanced back at his watch, “I’m just worried––what if something happened?”
“Don’t say that Zhang, I would know if they were, the Harpys would’ve paged me by now” Will pulls out a weird square thing with a screen to show him then sighs, “If they’re not here by then, I guess we could go up there together? Do you know any 70’s songs?”
Frank folded his arms “Of course, I know a 70’s song.”

I decided to not bother with their conversation and made my way up to one of the rows, just when the next people were up.
“Prim over here!” I heard both of the young Dionysus kids call out for me, Gavin and Uva were sitting by with 3 other kids around my age, drinking those sliver bag things with juice in them.
“These are our Roman siblings, Rohan, Venito, and Channel.” Gavin introduced me to the other three children, all of them sharing the same violet-colored eyes as the God himself.

I waved at them then sat next to Uva as everyone began to take their seats, “Where's Pollux?” I asked “he’s performing, The Hermes Cabin bet 30 that he’ll chicken out again like for the past 2 years now” She rolled her eyes, “Why would Pollux chicken out?”
Each of them shared a look, then faced me, “Well before Gavin and I came to camp, it was only just the twins––Castor and Him, they would perform on karaoke nights, it was their thing, but ever since Castor died 6 years ago, Pollux has had something like–stage fright, he keeps saying that he’ll get over it but it seems like he never will” my face softened hearing that, no wonder he was upset the other day when talking about Castor.

“Ever since we arrived we’ve offered to help him but he keeps pushing us away when it comes to that.” Gavin shakes his head. I glanced up at the sky, blinking my eyes to see how the clouds were darkening by the looks of it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose someone so close to you, let alone a twin.

A couple of minutes later a few more people went up the stage to sing, some were awful, some voices sounded so soothing and sweet and a few were booed off the stage. I had to bite my tongue to hide a laugh when one kid tried to crowd surf only to not have anyone catch them and hear a loud slam on the ground. I've never been a good singer nor don’t have any intention to ever do so unless you count humming or whistling.
Pollux was up next after a Ceres kid finished singing some song that I’ve heard the Apollo cabin play on their record player a few times, I don’t know what it was called, but it had the words “We found love right where we are” in it.

He wasn’t looking too well when the song of Frank Sinatra began to play, practically shaking as he was waiting for the words on the giant screen to show up. “Pay up you guys'' The Mercury kid behind us––some kid named Ian, held out his hand. I didn’t know what came through me but I snatched the juice bag from Gavin's hand and squeezed the last remaining juice onto the kid which made him run off crying.

I wasn’t sure if I felt sorry for doing that, yet I did mean to do it on purpose but the Dionysus kids clapped for me, “It was helpful for the both of you”
‘Shut up’ I say in my head to the voice.

Unfortunately, that Ian kid was right about Pollux, he ran off the stage dropping the microphone which caused it to create a loud noise that everyone started covering their ears when it hit the floor. “Oh that's not good, come on guys,” Rohan said standing up to leave his seat, followed by the rest of us.

We found Pollux near the trees with a few bush dryads who were patting his back as he started breathing heavily.
I watched as they all didn’t say anything, the siblings just gather around to hug their brother. A breeze blew next to us, where Dionysus had appeared, he just stood there with a mournful look on his face like he wanted to help but wasn’t doing anything about it. Why can’t he?

There were thoughts roaming in my head that could explain it but I might not know what his actual problem is, for the past few times, I’ve seen him only interact with his kids if it’s training, a plant-related topic, or that card game I’ve seen him play with the Sytrs.
Pollux had managed to calm down a bit right when the campers at the Apmatheater applaud whoever was singing. “Come on, all of you, back to your seats” Dionysus informed. “Except for you Blossom,” he says pointing at me just before I went with the others, I turn back to face him. “Chiron has informed me that you’ve only volunteered at the canoe race, you need to do at least one mandatory one”

“What? I wasn’t informed about that,” I said a bit taken aback, “it says it in the activity flier, Travis has given it to everyone at the cabin and it’s in Ancient Greek” I cuss inwardly to myself, Travis did give me one but I never had the nerve to read it, why would I? I thought I was just going to sit down and watch the games. In fact, I had made that flier into a paper bat.
“I-I forgot,” I tell him, looking down at my shoes, “Thought so, I’ve put you in for the chariot race right after dinner, if you don’t participate then you’ll be on dishwashing duty” My eyes widen, Gods damn it, is it too late to do a Karaoke song?

“Why are you telling me this now? I could’ve done a different one, anything but that!” I was starting to get annoyed by this man when he just shrugged at me “I forgot” he then tried to walk away, but I stopped him.
“Is it actually true what Percy said? That I’m one of the big three’s kid, because of the mark on my back, being Poseidon?” he turned back in a tiring matter like he just wanted me to shut up already, “You are not Poseidon’s child”
“But am I one of the big three? Even though you said Apollo might be my parent?”
“I did not say that, I said your ability might be from Apollos' doing, and yet no one knows why” he sighs.

“I’m not certain about the whole big three-part, but that mark you have is nothing related to him, let alone Greek. If you were then you would’ve won that Canoe race and not nearly drowned” He takes a step close to me “Have you ever considered more about what you are, rather than worry about others, maybe you can prove that by doing the chariot race” he grins then leaves me standing there.
I crossed my arms to hide the balled-up fist I formed in my hands, I wanted to tell him off, how much more of a stupid God could he be for that?

“Doesn’t that make you want to strangle him? Maybe you’re mad?”
‘No! Please stop it!’ I throw my hands to my head ‘I don’t want to feel angry, It’s my fault too’ I admit to myself the truth, taking the guilt through me.

I tried to breathe, It burned to count back from 100 when I returned to the amphitheater. This feeling isn't normal, it ached, why?

Pollux did look a lot better, someone had given him a Kitkat bar which seemed to have brightened his mood—-except mine because he wasn’t eating it correctly. “What did my dad want to talk to you about?” he asked, making room for me to sit, “nothing important” I lied.
I looked back at the stage where Chiron was calling up the next campers who happen to be Will and Frank, singing ‘Dream On’ by Aerosmith. ––Wait that was a ’70s song? I could’ve sworn it was the 80s.

They look to be putting their hearts into the singing, especially during the high note part they shared, which got the most applause from the campers going wild over the performance like a festival concert.
Will followed the other chorus of the song while Frank was doing an air guitar during the solo part, throughout each beat, they’d pose dramatically like rockstars. I wouldn’t be too surprised if they decided to throw themselves off the stage and start crowd surfing, the campers for sure would catch them. Out of all the other performances they were the only ones who received the most applause.

~*~
Dinner was an in-between of a free-for-all and everyone mostly prepared their gear and Chariots for the race. There was a large sign near the pathway to the beach where the race was going to be held, everyone was passing by and some stopped to look at it to recheck if they had everyone in their teams. I––however, had to stare at it multiple times to find my name.

Okay, admitting the truth is difficult, my dad struggled to try to teach me, yes that’s true, but this was all before Chiron mentioned to me that there’s this thing called ‘Dyslexia’ that all the Greek demigods have and yet here I was thinking I’d be Illiterate for the rest of my life, even in the language of Ancient Greek, I don’t seem to understand what the words even say or how are they pronounced.

It’s embarrassing to tell anyone that, most of the books I was given at the Juvenile were for Origami, and now that I’ve been here, I’ve tried to hide it.

Shoot me.

I went to find Chiron who was giving orders to the camp Harpys nearby, “Chiron” I said interrupting him, “Yes?”
“I don’t know which Chariot am I supposed to be in?”
“It says it on the board,” he tells me, eyeing the direction to where it is, “I would like for you to tell me, please” I started fidgeting with my hands, Chiron sighed then pointed at the far distance from the line of chariots from the starting point, “Over there, you’re assigned with Nico and Hazel”
“What!” I say a bit too loud, luckily not many people looked in our direction, “they were the last to arrive back, Mr. D says that it’s only fair” He looked back at the Camps Harpies, handing each a piece of paper. Is he serious?
After the scene Nico had created last night, I’d expected them to be my last option.

“Would be nice to get mad right now”
“Shut up,” I say through clutched teeth, putting my hands back in my head. “Excuse me?” I forgot Chiron was standing right next to me, “No not you–just–” I groaned leaving out of his sight and going towards the last Chariot.
Noticing that they were there already, Nico was checking the Chariot from the front and back while Hazel was sitting on top of a horse with black hair. Though the horse uncontrollably started to react when I got close.

“Arion, Arion calm down boy!” Hazel began to flick the ropes of the harness around her horse, but the horse, however, started kicking his front hooves up in front of Nico, to which he backed away out of panic, Percy came running through to calm the horse down, “what is he saying?” Nico asked him holding up his sword, “I don’t know, he’s just whinnying–Hazel! Get down from him” Percy tells her, but instead of climbing off, she had fallen off the horse, and in a blink, it vanished through speed, just an inch away from me.

“Are you alright?” I asked, helping her up. Her skin felt cold in my hands which made me step away from her. “I’m fine” her voice sounded forced when her eyes locked on mines.
A very loud whistle has blown through, and the guy from earlier Butch Walker, was standing on a podium.
“You're assigned with us aren’t you” Nico spoke, I couldn’t tell if he was mad or afraid, his emotions looked the same, but it so happens that they were informed that I would be joining them in this race then.

I gave a slow nod, noticing their chariot, it was a black stone color with gold laced around it along with jewels but no Pegasus’ were on the front side to pull it, “are these real?” I asked, hoping Hazel could just answer and not Nico, I was unsure about his behavior when he looked like he wanted to avoid me. I did see that he had a purple bruise on the left side of his face near his eye, I think that was my part from yesterday.

“Yes, it was a gift from my father Pluto, Hades Roman form,” Hazel tells me quickly but everything she was saying sounded forced out.

“what about the horses’ how is the Chariot going to move?”
“Arion was supposed to do that but since he’s gone now, we’ll stick to another plan, Nico” She looked at her brother as if he should take it away from the performance, the boy nodded and placed his hand on the ground where it began to shake, a herd of 3 large skeletons had risen from the dirt, but it wasn’t human skeletons, they were dead Pegasus with a black glow around them.

I forgot to blink. The sight of what I was seeing was surprising, “do you have a weapon?” Hazel looked back at me.
“Right here” I pointed at my belt that I got it back from the Venus tent, and unstrapped both of the whips to show her, she looked surprised “You could be in charge with Nico in taking defense while I drive” Hazel’s instructed me, I took to memorizing it just as the whistle blew again.

“All right, campers!” Butch announces holding up a flag, Chiron stepped up the podium, it was an odd sight to see a Centaur walk up the small stair steps, “Demigods! Attention! These are the rules for the Iris Cabins Chariot race. Everyone is to listen closely to what I’m going to say, now most of you are already aware of the regular rules on the ground, but this… will be a race on air!”

The campers began to applaud and cheer, “Silence! The children of Iris have come up with a twist to their game. You must fly across the whole camp and collect 8 of these–” he held up a large bagel-like stone, “–silver rings, whoever has the most, wins the game” another round of cheers plus shouting came through the campers.

“Rules to be no killing, as usual––hurting is allowed, now any messes around the camp and no campfire for the remainder of this summer!” Dionysus shouts, either to make sure everyone heard it or if he just wanted to see the look of shock and screams from the demigods.

From my front left, I spot Connor and Travis with Lavinia. To the far side, Austin from the Apollo Cabin was there with a small Roman girl and Miranda Gardener, the Tyche chariot was behind them along with the Nike one.

Hazel guided the Pegusus while Nico and I put on our armor, the helmet was a bit loose but I wondered if it wasn’t too late to regret loosening my braid earlier now that the helmet will bother me by falling off, or if I could tie my hair up on my own but I didn’t have anything to tie it with.

“And last is the twist to the game” Butch signaled his siblings with the flag, they were on top of the view tower, and one of them pulled out a crystal ball and held it on top of their head, in an instant the sky had now turned to a much darker gray, with the clouds coming together, drops of rain began to pour through, a few kids who were at the very front of the line started cursing out about their hair and makeup being ruined.

I smiled tilting my head up and closing my eyes, for the first time feeling the rain hit me, it had been too long since I haven’t felt it, but I quickly opened them when I heard the sound of thunder booming. “This should be fun,” Nico says sarcastically, the rain had flattened his hair which he then started to tie back into a man bun with a string of rope.

I started looking around my armor to see if there was any loose string so I could do the same, as I did, I noticed Dionysus and Chiron staring directly at me. Something about the way they were doing that felt just like how Percy was behaving during the activities. Dionysus’ words came back into my head, only it was about how I should prove what I am during this race. The only thing is that I don’t know what he was talking about.

“On your marks!” someone shouts at the front line they were waving a checkered flag.
“Get set!” everyone quickly gathered their items up, I held onto the side ropes tightly, my breathing quickening, hoping my non-helping fighting skills come useful to this game.

“Fly!” the camper lifted the flag to signal everyone.

Everyone’s chariot sped off to the riel and up in the air. I saw this once in a movie, where you flick the ropes on the horses and shout Heeya! Or Giddy Up! Unfortunately, Pegasus, No––The dead Pegasus’ isn’t very fond of that, although they did obey the flicking Hazel did.

The flying felt just like how it did when I first arrived at camp. Only a bit faster when it came to guiding the skeletons around, objects were being thrown at us but I, in fact, couldn't see what it was, due to my concentration only being on swatting them away, Nico tried directing Hazel but as we got faster, the rain kept pouring stronger.

“To the left!” Nico call out, “No! My left! The right! Prim––grab it!” we dove down to the volleyball court, I reached over to try and grab what I saw to be the silver ring but my hands were too wet from the rain, causing it to slip out, I groaned.
“Make them go faster!” I couldn’t tell if it was Nico saying that or the other team with their chariot right next to ours, “I’m trying!” Hazel shouts, to my quick notice, Teddy was riding a chariot above us with Georgie throwing every arrow coming near them with her hands, accidentally we both made eye contact.

“You said you weren’t going to do the chariot race!” I heard her say, “Change of plans” I lied, hoping she and Teddy could just go away, “and you still didn’t want to be partnered with me?”
“Now’s not the time to be discussing this Georgie!” I shouted as a sphere was being thrown in my direction, I flicked it away with the whip only to then see it hit their chariot above us.

“Prim, Look straight ahead!” Nico pushed my face to look at what was in front of me, something bright that only indicated that it was an Apollo chariot, aside from its golden color, the sound of a Saxophone was playing but with the storm, it sounded more like a clogged toilet, once again distracting me from the defense as it got close to us.

“Traitor!” I heard Georgie shout, she must’ve thrown something that slashed through the harness of the skeleton Pegasus because we were now left with two of them to carry all three of us. The chariot tilted to the right, causing my helmet to slip out of my head, shit!

And also Nico almost flew out, but I grabbed him by his ankle as he dangled through the air, nearly slipping although I tried to bring any strength I had to hold him for dear life. Pretty sure he’s going to be bruised badly again.
“Use your whip!” Hazel tells me, once I threw her brother back into the chariot, now if that isn’t something to make me feel foolish for not thinking of earlier. I unstrapped the other whip (griping them so tightly that I’m sure my knuckles were turning white) and swished both of them at another set of whatever was being thrown at me.

“I got this, keep going!” Nico grabbed onto the edge where the ropes were attached, he started using his sword as a baseball bat and hitting off anything that looked flammable in his direction.

A loud KABOOM! Was blasted followed by some screams through the lighting, where Connor, Travis, and Lavinia were, or at least I think that’s who it was, the rain was making me squint my eyes at everything, now that my hair was on my face thanks to the force of speed we were going.
“Score! Tyche’s chariot is down!” Hazel chants, she was no longer holding the ropes, “I think that was Tyches?”
“I thought it was Hephestus?” Nico questioned, “You guys!” I shout now taking control of the Pegasus’ pulling hard on the reins “Where should I go!” a ball of fire was now headed our way.

“Prepare for the raging balls of fire!” A bronze chariot was behind us, I could hear both children of Hades cuss in a language I didn’t know, but it didn’t sound Italian.
“Prim take front, I got this” I felt Hazel push behind me to the side where the sight of another fireball was aimed towards them.

“Eat my fire!” the laugh of an Ares kid was echoing through my ears, it was Erik.
“Nico––Shield!” Hazel says, supposedly they took cover, because the heat of the fire was burning my back, “Release the arrows!” one of the other kids shouted.

At this point, by the distance, the horn had been blown, stating that the race was over, but because we were still far away from where the finish line is, the campers behind us kept the fight going. I pulled one whip back and swished it in each direction where all the new arrows were hitting to my right. “Ahh!” Nico grunted clutching his leg “Nico!–Ow!–” Hazel leaned back, griping her upper arm, both of them were hit by a burnt arrow.

I closed my eyes and muttered under my breath “Please, give me strength” a little unsure what I meant by that but I was in a panic and had to react quickly. Proceeding to reach into my front pocket and use my red bracelet to tie back my hair, then made sure Hazel didn’t fall off the chariot as she leans more away from me.

“Just make us land!” Nico says holding onto the rope, his sword was nowhere in sight, I tried to pull the dead Pegasus’ downward but the sense of something hit me back all at once with a strike of lighting on the side of the chariot, I screamed in pain thus pulling forward the harnesses to which the two skeletal creatures have taken it as a ‘crash right here and make us die’ kind of pull.
The next few seconds of it were permanently blacked out of my mind, hearing the sounds of the three of us screaming, the tree branches, something cracking, and then BONG, FLUMP, CRASH!! onto the muddy dirt.

I hadn’t been sure how long it took until the campers found us like this, assuming that everyone else was much worse than we were. The hurried sounds and charters from them began to come close to our location, a sound of hooves stamping by along with the sound of two worried Boyfriends shouting “Nico!” “Hazel!”

I opened my eyes, seeing that I was on my side, the chariot was ruined completely and the skeleton Pegasus was gone, I could tell that it stopped raining, and I didn’t feel any pain, at least not anymore everything started to feel numb. The last time I felt like this was because I healed myself, which was now my reason for waking up completely, and noticing that a large branch was on top of me, I pushed it away and sat up.

“It’s okay, I’m alright” Hazel sounded like she was trying not to cry from the pain, her arm was at an angle that didn’t look right, and Nico’s face didn’t look too good either. Frank handed her a canteen to drink, while Will started wrapping bandages around Nico’s head.

“I’m fine too if anyone’s asking!” I announced to them with a groan, holding up my hand as I tried to stand up, an amount of gasping was coming from the campers including the four in front of me, “Prim–don’t move!” Pranjal came running in along with 2 other Roman healers in white coats, each of whose faces looked pale white.

“Y-you have arrows on your back, Y-your collar bone” Will stutters putting his hand on to his neck as though he can feel it, cursing the word that rhymes with Duck. I reached behind me, feeling that the armor plack for my back was broken along with not one, not two, but five arrows sticking out. Shit, Shit, Shit.

“No, No it’s alright” I took a step back from them near the tree, Will stood up and tried coming closer. “Prim, just stand still, let–”
“No––don’t you dare come near me!” my voice started to shake, “I’m fine” I didn’t let him finish what he was about to say, instead I reached behind me again and pulled out one of the arrows, cracking sounds came after that and a bunch of shouting from the campers as I started pulling out more of the arrows, then touched my collar where there was an actual bone sticking out of me and blood.

Will and Pranjal walked towards me “Don’t do that you’ll hurt yourself–”
“I SAID I’M FINE!” The anger took over me for just a second. Both of them backed away, completely scared.

I knew that there were probably more injuries on me, like bruises and cuts but surely they were all seeing it fade away from me despite the dirt I was covered in. I took a deep breath and pushed the bone back in place, hissing at the feeling of it, but the pain instantly went away. One of the Roman healers had fainted on the spot.

“H-How is she doing that?” someone said at the front of the crowd who was watching all this happen, more mutters coming from all around.
If obviously, a bunch of demigods are witnessing me self-healing these major injuries while Nico and Hazel are in agony with theirs.

Rather than explaining or saying anything at all. Everybody gasped again, and the muttering continued as they all stare above my head;
“No way!”
“What is that?”
“Oh we’re going to lose so much money”
“Well that explains nothing”

“What’s happening?” I said panicking at the sight of everyones face.
“Prim” Percy said coming forward he seemed upset when he tilted his head up, “Look.”
I was scared to do so, was this what I think it is? It couldn’t be. I didn’t want to look up but my curiosity beat me to it.

A holographic symbol appeared on top of my head, a bright color in a similar form to a Greek symbol I’ve seen before but I can’t remember where.
“W-what does that mean?” I looked around for someone to tell me, except this time everyone began dropping their weapons and kneeling on the ground. I noticed Dionysus having a look of disappointment while Chiron looked afraid but he quickly shook it off and cleared his voice to speak;

“Hail for Prim Evans, Daughter of Persephone, Goddess of Spring, and Queen of the Underworld.”

Chapter Text

Hazel:

‘What. The. Hades!’ Hazel thought to herself, seeing the claiming symbol that appeared on Prim’s head turn into a flower crown of roses to fall on top of her. No one said a word, rather, Hazel turned to see Nico with a worried face, he was shaking from either the pain he was in or what they had all just seen.

“Prim–” Percy broke the silence by trying to grab her hand but she flinched away, she was scared. Of course, she would be scared.
A Goddess had claimed her, and not just any Greek Goddess it was the queen of the underworld, this could only increase more questions. Even worse, What would Hades think? What is he thinking right now? There is no possible way Prim was Persephone's daughter, or was it?

Prim tried to step away from where she stood, Hazel noticed that the girl's breathing wasn’t looking right, “No” she shook her head, “It’s okay–” Percy tried to assure her but she was still taking steps away from him. “No, No, No!” Prim ran in the opposite direction furthering into the woods, The flower crown fell off of her head. “Prim!” Grover and Percy ran after her, and the sight of them faded through the darkness.

Nico looked like he wanted to go after her as well but any movement he made was a cry for Will. Chiron had to carry them back, even through the pain, the Centaur didn’t say anything, no one did when they arrived at the campgrounds.

Hazel was starting to look worse by the pain in her arm when they made it to the infirmary. “I want Will” she heard Nico grunt, expecting Will to start attending to him with the injuries but he was nowhere in sight, instead––Hazel saw that it was Will’s younger siblings Jerry and Gracie running up to attend to him.

“Where’s Will?” Jerry asked as he started attending to Nico’s injured leg. Hazel looked around to see where Will and Pranjal were, but no one answered the question. The other Roman healer––Jessica went to attend to Hazel. Her twin Tamera had awoken from fainting, she didn’t ask what happened, just saw the injury and went straight to work.

“I’m going to need you to sleep, so we can fix your leg,” Gracie said to Nico as she held up a bag of Shade dust and started putting some in her hand, “No, I want Will” Nico tried to say for the millionth time, “I saw him disappear with Mr. D and Pranjal” Annabeth said right before Gracie had already blown a cloud of the dust at Nico’s face, then towards Hazel, whisking them into a slumber just as she heard a cracking sound.

The Shade dust doesn’t officially count as sleep, it puts you out but in the end, you wake up still feeling groggy.

For Hazel, however, it took her into a deep dream. The one thing that she found strange about it was that she wasn’t in her own present body, instead, she was in a spirit form.
Her surrounding was at a dark place, she could make out the sight of two glowing figures walking through a field. The more Hazel looked around the more she noticed that the field had bones all around which took her a second to realize that she was in the underworld.

“I thought you said she was here, Where?” the first figure said holding a lantern, the voice clicked into Hazel’s brain, it was Thanatos, the god of death. She didn’t understand how or why was she in this dream but clearly, it must mean something, The last time she encountered the god of death was during a quest she went on with Frank and Percy.
“I’m not sure, I saw her walk through this path–” the second voice spoke, Hazel now knew who she was, which already annoyed her. Melinoe had walked right past her holding up a hand as if she was to silence Thanatos from speaking, She scanned around her surroundings before reaching over a pile of stones and knocking them over, revealing a screaming Macaria who was sitting crosslegged on the floor.

“Seriously? That took me hours to build!” Macaria groaned, already starting to rebuild the pile. “Sister, what exactly are you doing?” Melinoe asked coldly, “Trying to find wifi reception?”

“Yes I was trying to see if they DoorDash any Starbucks to the underworld,” Macaria said in the most sarcastic tone, “Carry on, there's nothing to see here” She tried to shoo them away but the two didn’t move an inch.
“By nothing, do you mean trying to communicate with the demigods above with dreams, or disguising yourself as mother and tricking another one of the dead gods as you did with Harmonia to help with the mess Hades has made!” Melinoe lifted one of the stones to throw it at Macaria, but Thanatos stopped her.

“That's enough,” he says shining the lantern over at Melinoe to hold, “It appears that she’s trying to communicate through dreams,” he tells them plainly, looking around the stones, seeing that they have strange runes carved around them.
“By the gods! What magic is that?” Macaria rolled her eyes at the remark, “You wouldn’t understand,” she looked at her up and down, “What are you even doing out of your cave?”
“You wouldn’t understand” Melinoe returned the comment.

“We’ve brought news” Thanatos brings up, which catches Macaria’s attention, “Hermes is here, apparently trying to convince Hades to claim the poor child since…you know” Thanatos waved his hand around like he was swatting a fly away “So the child could go on the quest and stop this disaster from happening again”

The goddess’ eyes soften, “I believe it’s going to be a lot more difficult than just that,” she held up one of the stones “Word has spread, and the other realms are receiving the prophecy as well, soon they’re going to try and find the Gemini for themselves.”

Hazel's eyes widen hearing that, Other realms, that would mean more than one Pantheon is receiving the prophecy. She felt her heart drop, which was an odd sense given she didn’t have a body at the moment, but questioned if this was connected to the war. If so…would this mean that it’s involving more than just one other pantheon? Could this be a much bigger situation than she, Rachel, and Nico had thought it would be?

“Who else received it? Do they know?” A look of worry flashed around the Goddess of painful death, “Aside from ours, Their rivals were the first to know,”
Melinoe looked at the stones and then at her sister, “The Norse is one of them isn’t it?”
Macaria didn’t speak, her white eyes already showed the answer.

Hazel tried to keep herself from gasping, even though they wouldn’t hear her, she still didn’t want to jinx it. “Any chance the demigods know about the Prophecy?” asked Thanatos.

“I’m unsure, Zeus is keeping it away from them, I tried to tell Di Angelo but there's been this strong sleep blockage around him and Levesque” She gave a sorrowful look at them.
“Could you try again?” Melinoe asked, Macaria shook her head, “I don’t think I can, it’s too painful for them––” her eyes lit up, “but you can” she told her happily handing it to her sister.
Melinoe scoffed shoving it away, “I rather watch Uncle Hermes get chewed up by Cerberus right now, you know very well I don’t get involved with Hades' mistakes, let alone what he––” At the moment Melinoe was cut off by the ground shaking uncontrollably.

The three turned to look from the distance where Hades’ palace was located, “Oh Tartarus” Macaria said silently as the other two went running towards the palace, “the child has been claimed and it wasn’t Hades” She faced back at the two gods.

“Son of a Titan––Mother, what did you do?” Melinoe threw her arms up, “Could this day get any worse?” Macaria muttered.
“Actually yes, if you count our own little war down here, that we’re about to have––with their gods,” Thanatos said plainly enough for Macaria to stand up from the ground while the other two ran towards the palace.

She placed her hand to her heart upset, before going after them. The ground was still shaking, or at least that’s what Hazel thought it was until she realized it was the dream starting to go static, she felt a sharp pain starting to form on her injured shoulder, then down her ribs. She was about to wake up.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Shouted Macaria at them.
“What do you mean? At least she’s claimed, she can go find the Gemini now!”
“No! Now they’ll know the girl is––”

~*~

Hazel awoke in a large gasp for air, the lights from the infirmary were so bright in her eyes that she felt tears forming as she tried to blink fast to adjust her sight but it burned each time she opened her eyes.
“You’re awake” she heard Frank's voice next to her, she couldn’t see him but knew he was there, “I can’t see,” she said rubbing her eyes with her left hand since the right one was in a cast, he handed her a warm damp cloth to use.
“Some of the Shade dust must’ve gotten in your eyes, here” She suddenly heard Annabeth's voice coming toward her, she reached for whatever she handed her,––a mug, and took a few sips, Unicorn blood.

“Where’s Nico?”
“He’s still asleep, Gracie dusted him a little more so he’ll be out a little longer,” Annabeth said. Hazel managed to see a bit better even though she was mostly squinting, She could see Nico sound asleep in the cot next to hers, he had a cast on his leg and a few bandages on both arms.
“He needs to wake up now, We need to get Rachel” She tried to sit up but was gently pushed back by Frank and the sharp pain on her hip.

“Absolutely not, you're in no good condition to move at the moment”
“But I have to–I saw something in my dream, it’s about the Prophecy”
“Prophecy? What do you mean?” Annabeth had a worried look on her face. Hazel tried to explain quickly what Rachel, Nico, and her have discovered so far earlier before she mentioned what she saw in the dream.

“Another pantheon knows about it, something about searching for the Gemini, Nico mentioned how it involves a quest and something else––I can’t remember” She rubbed her head, ashamed of how her thoughts were starting to fizz out again. Annabeth turned to face Frank, “Go get Rachel and Chiron” Her tone was strict, he got up quickly to walk out of the infirmary, only to accidentally trip and fall on the side of the cot where Nico was sleeping, causing him to wake up in a high-pitched scream from his leg being sat on.

“Sorry,” Frank winced seeing how Nico was trying to hold back tears. Well, at least he’s awake now.

***
Nico:

For the first time, the camp was completely quiet, no one made a noise from outside of the infirmary, as far as Nico saw through the window before his vision started blurring from the shade of dust getting into his eyes, some of the campers were gathered outside of the infirmary, looking impatient.
He noticed Hazel and Annabeth were waiting for him to collect himself from both the slumber and leg pain before they could tell him something.
“Are Percy and Grover back with Prim?” Nico asked finishing his ambrosia pudding, “No, they’re still out finding her, Clarisse said there's a chance they made it out of the camp border, but we’re not exactly sure” Annabeth informed him.

He tried to remember so far what just happened after the Chaiort race, Prim had just been claimed, by Persephone. Why?
He knew that the Gods needed someone to claim Prim at some point today so she could go on the quest involving the war thats about to happen soon. But why Persephone? Out of all the other deties, why her?

Now everyone thinks the Goddess was unfaithful to Hades and had a Demigod.

Right then Will stepped into the infirmary, his expression was plain, as if his focus was on something else as he made a beeline towards Nico. “Chiron will be here momentarily, he’s having a discussion with Mr. D” He said quickly while checking on Nicos injuries, his hands were cold.

“What happened?” Nico asked him trying to get Will to look at him in the eyes but he wasn’t willing to, rather Will focused on the bandages on Nicos arms then his leg before going over to check on Hazel.
“Are you alright?” Annabeth spoke, trying to break the silence, “Perfectly fine, just a mad discussion with Mr. D” Will sighs, going over to shelves only to see that most of the medical supplies were gone. Probably his siblings and the Roman twins took them to use on the rest of the campers outside, Will’s reaction looked unsettling when he slammed his hand on the drawers.

“Will?” Nico tried to get him to calm down, but the door swung open once again to reveal Rachel rushing in. “What happened! Frank told me you know something about the prophecy!” She said out of breath looking at Hazel, Nico looked surprise, did something else happened while he was knocked out?

“The dream I just had––the Prophecy is spreading to other Pantheons, they want to find the Gemini, I think thats what the Prophecy’s actually about,” Hazel took another sip of unicorn blood before speaking again, Rachel looked like she wanted to pull her hair out, while Annabeth’s expression looked confused, especially Will’s.

“What other Pantheons?” Rachel demanded, “they only mentioned one, the Norse, but I believe more are going to find out soon.”

Rachels expression looked frighten when she stared over at Annabeth who had her eyes widen “Magnus” she quickly got up from the chair next to Hazels, accidentally hitting her injured arm in the prosses. Nico suddenly remembered how Percy once mentioned Annabeth having a cousin who was a Norse Demigod but that was all that the conversation went from––he didn’t know anything else about it.

At that moment Piper walked in holding a tray of sandwiches, “Yan told me to bring these for you guys” she tells them before setting down the tray.

Annabeth looked around her pockects, “I need to write to him now,” Rachel stopped her from running out the door, “Hold it Wise girl––Hazel what else happened? Who was they?” everyone looked back at Hazel.
“I–I don’t know, Macaria said they’re enemies with the Norse, but…I think its from what Nico said” She looked at him, “You were right about Prim, shes from another Pantheon” Everyone else’s eyes were now on him.
“Wait what? But Prim had just been claimed, how is she from another Pantheon?” Annabeth was trying to process the whole conversation at the same time Rachel rolling her eyes.
“I already told you guys, she can’t be from another Pantheon, she wouldn’t have been able to get through the camps barrier if she was.”

“But we flew here” Piper said in a soft tone, her face gave off a similar worried look Will had on, it questioned Nico why they both looked like someone was about to jump them with a knife. “No wonder she felt so different from the rest of us” Will said so quietly.

Rachel still wasn’t believing it, Nico tried sitting up, holding back the pain on his leg, followed by trying to give the quick version of what he saw in his dream earlier at Olympus, “The Gods even confirmed it when I was at Mount Olympus, they were all arguing on who would claim her, Persephone must’ve stepped in for Hades because he was suppose to do it.”

“She did” Hazel informs, “but it wasn’t suppose to be her”
“Now that does seem to make sense” Annabeth said hoping that Rachel would also agree but she still stayed firmed about what she said before. Until her eyes glowed a spark of green, “Come in!” Rachel calls out to whoever was at the door.

Tyson walked in “Kayla said to get more bandages” the Cyclops says heading towards the supply closet, he looked at upset at which Nico thought it must be from seeing all the campers injuries outside.

“You can not make me believe that she’s from another pantheon. It would have been obvious to spot the difference” Annabeth and Piper gave Rachel a ‘really’ kind of look when she said that, as if it wasn’t any different that time when didn’t realize Jason Grace was from the Roman side when he came here. Nico wasn’t there to see that but he’s heard stories from the campers who were able to notice he was different from the rest of them.

“Fine, let’s suppose she is, which realm would it even be? The Norse have plenty of enemies.”
“Whichever had the first prophecy, I can ask my cousin Magnus if he knows something about it, he’s from the Norse realm if it’s already been informed over there then he must’ve known by now” Annabeth tells her.
“Prophecy?” Tyson asked stepping out of the supply closet, holding a box of medical supplies.

“We’re trying to figure something out Tyson, no worries” Nico tried to play the worry down but wasn’t sure if he failed or not, “A Prophecy?” Tyson said again confused before his face soften.
“Do you mean like; The Wrath will step foot at campground, may challenge the descendants from all around, for dead’s spawns must kill the destiny of an enemy’s seal and to the Gods of unground vow who must break it’s final deal. That’s a Prophecy too?”

Everyone stand quiet, their eyes were wide. “Tyson” Rachel spoke, blinking a few times “How do you know that?”
“That's what Ella has been repeating over and over again”
“When was this?” Hazel sat up from the cot, “And how come you didn’t tell us”
“Two weeks ago, I thought it was a from the wizard book she likes reading, it has a Prophecy too?”

“Yes it does, but it’s not from the wizard book, that’s an actual Prophecy, if not––the one that was given” Annabeth turned to face Nico and Hazel. Nico looked ready to suffocate himself with the pillows.

“So thats what Ella has been trying to tell me, she had the prophecy this entire time, but––” Rachel covered her mouth, “Hold on let me get my journal––Tyson stay right here––Piper go find Mr. D and Chiron,” she said before running out the door.
“I’ll go write to Magnus” Annabeth tried to follow behind but was hit by the door when Grover rushed in with Percy carrying Prim in a makeshift stretcher, followed by the Hunters of Artemis running in.

“Oh Gods!” Nico shouted trying to move away from his cot when they placed her on the one next to his. He was able to see her a little clearer which was a frightening sight, he could hear Piper screaming before running out, Will pushed himself towards the corner of the room, his eyes looked terrified as tears started falling from his blue eyes.

“What happened to sister?” Tyson gasped, handing the box of supplies to the Hunters for them to use. Percy noticed his brother standing there then tried to get him out the door with Grover and Annabeth when Thalia shouted at them to get out while they attended Prim, only to then look confused when all of the girls realized she was healing herself on her own.

“What in Tartarus happened!” Nico shouted horrified, but the one of the hunters quickly placed in a curtain infront of him. He looked at the corner to see Will, only he seemed to have disappeared with the rest of the group. This confused him, what had suddenly made Will become so afraid at the sight of Prim like this? He’s seen campers in that state of being entirely covered in blood.

But this didn’t look like it was her’s.

Chapter Text

Percy:
He remembers the first time he read Prim’s file. It was the day before the break out; Lou Ellen was driving him and Grover back to the motel where Piper, Leo, and Calypso were waiting for them with that night’s take out, they had spent hours and days trying to think of a plan to get the girl out, after Pipers failed attempt to charmspeak the guards into releasing Prim from the prison.

They had gone to plan E: Escape– Grover had found time to befriend the mice around the building to give them a layout on how they were going to plot it.

Percy was exhausted from the shift they had, as much as he hated working at an all-female prison, where it smelled like his ex-stepfather Gabe Uglyano and rotting fish. Not to mention the awful catcalling the other inmates would give to him and Grover even though Lou Ellen swore up and down that she made them as ugly as possible.

Percy tried to look at the positive in all this, the one thing New Rome University had taught him in his Demigods Social Work classes, was to blend in with the crowd before assuming the child is a demigod, to not scare them when approaching the subject about their origins. Everything takes time.

And he had to learn the patience for it.

At first, he didn’t think he would need to know what Prim did to be sentenced to prison, he assumed she was just a rebellious teenager who stole things or committed arson.
But oh Gods was he wrong.

Grover handed him the file to read that night when everyone went to sleep, it took Percy a while to read it, given his dyslexia was challenging. By the time he got to the reason for the arrest, he didn’t want to believe it; she was just a kid.
Sure a tall one, but a child wouldn’t do such a horrendous thing. The only thing that was preventing him from feeling sick to his stomach, was the Indian food they had for dinner.

Since then he knew Prim was different from the other demigods, she had shown a difference in the way she handled herself throughout her time at camp, it kind of reminded him of Nico during the beginning of his stay at camp after the battle of Manhattan. Percy also saw a bit of himself in the girl, it was strange but it was one of the many reasons he felt the need to protect her.

Similar to the big brother role he has with both Estelle and Tyson, even now that Percy knew Prim Evans wasn’t anything related to the God of the Sea, he still had that little hope when Georgie told him about the mark on Prim's back.

Now he was running through the middle of the woods with Grover to try and bring her back, she wasn’t far from them, though it worried him now that they made it past the barrier due to feeling the air being a lot colder, which was weird because it was summer and it shouldn’t feel this way at all.

Percy and Grover were now shouting for Prim to stop, if she kept this up then she might be able to make it through the roads, which wasn’t a good sign, given her demigod scent. He was no Sytr like his friend, but with the empathy link they shared, Percy realized that it wasn’t what the Pegasus had described it to be.

“Prim! Come back!” Grover tried to snatch Prim back since he was faster, but instantly the girl turned and kicked him down to the ground, causing her to fall as well, unsure how she did that but it didn’t take long for Percy to jump over the Sytr and tackled Prim back onto the dirt.

“Let go of me!” She shouted trying to get away from his grip.
“Stop moving” Percy tried to grab one arm while Grover held onto the other, she kept screaming as tears started to stream down her face. Percy felt bad for what he was doing, he knew she didn’t like being touched, he’d seen the way she flinched when anyone tried, he didn’t think she was even aware of the constant tensing she did with her shoulders when anyone was anywhere near 5 ft of her.

“Prim you have to come back to the camp,” he said, trying to pull her up to stand.
“No! Don’t make me go back, please,” her amber eyes stared down at the ground, where she covered her face from looking at them.

Percy wanted to feel remorse for Prim, just a moment ago she had been claimed by the Goddess Persephone, which led to so many questions as to How? When? And why? Did this happen? He didn’t even think the goddess was capable of being unfaithful––okay no, he did, but thought it would’ve happened years from now, since she has a whole grudge going on with Nico and Hazel, from what they’ve told him 3 years ago.

Now it seems to make sense when earlier that day, Rachel Dare had given him one of her Tarot cards, saying that it was going to happen today. The first thing that came to his mind was––of course; Prim getting claimed. He had high hopes for her to be Poseidon’s, the signs were sort of there; the strong Demigod scent, her strength, the possible hint that she’s one of the big three’s kid, and the tattoo on her back was what made it the cherry on top––Yet she isn’t.

So why does she even have that mark?

Percy tried to shake the thoughts away as the three of them were trying to find their way back to the camp entrance, he didn’t say anything else to her, rather he asked Grover where was the way back.
He wiped his face and then sniffed the air, he made a weird face before trying again, and immediately Percy sensed something was wrong.

“I–I Percy–” Grover shook his head terrified, then motioned his eyes onto Prim, Percy’s eyes widened when he realized her scent was blocking Grover’s direction, that wasn’t a good sign. The same thing had happened when they were retrieving her at the Prison, Prim’s scent had only worn down when she was put to sleep by Piper before they all had to hitchhike their way to the Waystation in Indiana.
Now that Percy comes to think about it, it certainly wouldn’t be a good idea to put Prim to sleep now, especially since Grover didn’t have his reeve pipes with him.

He glanced at her, she was still in tears looking down at the muddy shoes which were technically his but there was a zero chance she’d ever give them back to him, and he didn’t care to have them back.
There were pinecones on the ground near them that were starting to shake, and then everything around them began to rumble. 'Was this an Earthquake?’ He thought, only for it to fade when a deep sound of growling was heard behind the three of them.

It was only he and Grover who turned their heads to see what was behind them, a large two-legged lizard chicken was right behind them, ready to screech.

And now they were running.

“What is a thing!?” Grover calls out looking back with wide eyes, “I don’t know! Just get her to safety, I got this” Percy shouts running back to where the growling was, he reaches into his pocket to uncap his sword Riptide.

He lunged forward, hoping whatever this creature was could instantly die by a stab, but it didn’t die––Percy’s sword went through the creature like a hologram. This didn’t panic him, only now he felt curious to know what kind of creature it was that was immune to Celestial Bronze.

“That is a Cockatrice!” he heard Prim scream at the sight of it, how did she know the name of it?
“A Caca-What?” Percy said, trying to get the giant creature away from where her voice was. “A hybrid, Chicken-Snake!” he heard running hooves coming towards him, surely those were Grovers.

The Chicken Snake let out a loud screech as its head started to wander over in search of something. “It doesn't have eyes” Grover whispers over to Percy, It catches on to him that the creature is searching through the sound of noises, but it doesn’t pay attention to Grover's whisper. He quickly looked down at the creature’s two feet and tried again to hit the monster but once more his sword swung passed it when it began to move around in the opposite direction from the sound of a branch snaping.

He heard a scream from that side, it clicked to him––for some reason the creature just wanted Prim.
“My sword isn’t working on it, how do you kill this thing?” Percy pants running again, this time to the other side where he could only see its wings, Grover ran next to him holding a branch as his weapon, “I don’t know!”

If only the rain, the Iris cabin had made for the Chariot race hadn’t been an illusion trick, then Percy could’ve used the rest of the remaining water around to somehow trap the Hybrid. Everything else around him looked dry and cold when he looked around.

“Where’s Prim?” Percy said quietly trying to find her before the Hybrid made another ear-bleeding screech and stomped toward the next direction, its force had knocked several of the trees near them creating another rumble from where they stood.

Both of them tried running to where they might think it was chasing her, but there was no sign of Prim anywhere, Percy started to think if she had just abandoned them in the middle of the woods to deal with the monster on their own if she did do that then that's just messed up.
There was a thud at the backside from the bird, they looked up to see that Prim had climbed up onto one of the trees. ‘What is she doing?’ He asked himself, wanting to shout at her to get down from there, but it seemed that she had some sort of plan already.

By the way, her eyes held that frightening stare she does before attacking, Percy knew what she was about to do, “Prim No!” he shouted, which caught the attention of the hybrid. Prim jumped on top of its head, trying to hold it in place while it started to swerve, hitting through more trees and making the ground shake once more.

“Prim, hold on!” Grover shouts trying to run towards the Bird whilst it screeches even louder, muting Prim's screams. Percy looked over at the fallen trees, cursing to himself for what he was about to do. Placing his hands on the ground he conjured up every bit of liquid it had to create a flood bound of water then launched it at the creature who had just thrown Prim up in the air with its mouth wide open.

“Percy!” Grover shouts just as a loud splash hits his friend and the Hybrid on its side making it fall, letting out a screech followed by a belch.

“No––No!” Grover grabbed onto the neck of the creature right when it started to get back up, Percy was thrown into a panic when he realized what just happened. The chicken snake had swallowed Prim alive.
He tried to think of something quick, reaching to pry its beak open, only to feel how razor sharp it was, at one point the Hybrid was ready to move its head around again to get them off, when from a distance more footsteps were running up to them rather it was more of a whole army of footsteps.

“Hunters Assemble!” as if he couldn’t be any more glad to hear the voice of Reyna Ramirez Arellano shouting at the Hunters of Artemis to fire their arrows. Percy thought the arrows wouldn’t do anything to the Bird but then the sound of something sizzling hit through the Bird, there was smoke coming out of the arrows, letting out a horrible stench of rotten eggs and grapefruits.

The Hybrid had stopped screeching, trying to fumble its way out of Percy’s grasp from its face, but he still held on tight, just like Grover was doing with its throat until finally it stopped moving and collapsed lifeless.

“Fassssscinating,” a voice said a couple of steps away from Percy who quickly reacted and withheld his sword up to see a huntress named Sssssarah, who happens to be a Dracaena, she was staring at the Hybrid with fascination while Reyna was coming up to him with a bag of medical supplies.

“Get back!” Percy shouts pushing everyone away, looking back at the Creature who still had Prim inside its throat. “Prim!” He shouts taking the risk to get her out, but Reyna pulls him back “Percy no! Their fangs are poisonous, you’ll die!” she tried pushing him back until the Dracaena shoved Percy aside, “Sssssusssss, boy, one-touch inssssside the beassssst mouth, you’ll regret it” she said, this time she was the one to open Hybrids mouth, revealing the inside to look much more dangerous, there were spikes all down its throat,

“I ssssshall get her, commander,” Sssssarah tells Reyna, already reaching down the throat of the monster. Grover was being attended by the other hunters and Thalia Grace who was flashing a light onto his eyes to see if he was responding from the fall––he was.
“How did you find us?”
“We were on our way to the camp when we heard the trees falling near, Sssssarah said it was a––uh? What is it again?” Thalia called over to the Dracaena who had just pulled a bloody Prim out of the hybrid. “A Cockatrice, or the fancier term for it isssss a Basssssilisssssk”
Percy’s eyes widen, that’s impossible, “That is not a Basilisk, I’ve seen Basilisk’s before” he says going over to look at Prim, but the other Hunteress had beat him to it.
“On the contrary, thisssss Bassssilisssssk isssss a very rare one in thisssss realm, never in all my yearsssss, have I thought of encountering one” Sssssarah said in such amazement.

The creature no longer interested Percy, he focused on what was happening to Prim, “Is she alive?” he looked horrified at seeing her barely breathing.
“We have a pulse but it’s very faint,” One of the huntresses says rushing to wrap Prim in bandages, she had cuts in multiple places, and some wounds looked deep and worse than others. He felt tense at the thought that the poison from the fangs was killing her. “Can we get her back to camp?” he asked Reyna who was already pulling out a makeshift stretcher, “Hunters, lead the way!”

~*~

The only way Percy and Grover were able to catch up was to assist in carrying Prim back to the campground, and even that was a hassle to get there in time before the poison could infect her.
Now he sat in silence by the benches in front of the infirmary with Grover next to him, after calming Tyson down from crying and sending him off to go see if Juniper had any sandwiches left that she had made earlier for the camp activities.

Loud arguments were happening nearby, some of the campers were discussing something that Percy gave zero thought over until Rachel came running up to them. “You’re back, where's Prim?”
Percy pointed at the door next to him, she took a peek at the small window which barely showed anything thanks to the curtains, but it only took a small green glow in Rachel's eyes for her to see what was behind the door.

He let Grover explain what happened in the woods, which didn’t seem to settle her by what they encountered. “We had no idea what it was, Prim said it was a Cockatrice but Sssssarah said it was a Basilisk–”
“But it’s not a Basilisk, Basilisks are small and creepy, that thing we saw was huge and terrifying” Percy stated, he still wasn’t processing it, of course, it just gave him too many questions to think over. “Still, she said it’s a rare one in this realm, whatever that means, really” Grover lowers his shoulders.

Rachel's face suddenly tensed, “the other realm” she muttered,
“What?” Percy asked,
“N-Nothing, where's the Dracaena?” her voice was quick.
“Inside with Reyna and Thailia, why?” she quickly pulled the door open, despite there being a lock, Rachel rushed in to pull the curtain open.

Revealing a startled Reyna sitting by a chair next to Thalia who stood in front of the cot facing an unconscious–but not harmed– Prim, with her arms crossed like she was in disbelief to see a girl sleeping in a blood filth. Sssssarah was by the corner holding a bag filled with some random oily liquid.

“How is she?” Rachel asked, referring to Prim, but didn’t look at her. “Asleep, thankfully,” Reyna tells them as everyone stepped close, “I managed to drain out Ninety-Ssssseven percent of the poissssson out of her, Ssssshe will live, but mossssst likely the other three percent isssss going to wake her up in a paranoid ssssstate, I recommend you bring one of the Hypnossss children to resssssolve that,” Sssssarah tells them all as she removes her gloves.

“I’ll go get them, I need to check on the hunters anyways” Reyna excused herself out of the infirmary. A pang feeling hit Percy, what if that 3% poison would somehow affect Prim's memory, what if might make it worse? Perhaps triggered her and supposedly her memories could not come back in full tact, he tried to not think about it.

“Listen, Grover told me what happened. How did you know what it was?” Rachel said to the Dracaena, “About what? The Cockatrice? It’sssss an old legend they tell the younglingsssss before bed, a rare Hybreed created by the egg of a Ssssserpent, hatched by the warmth of a chicken” Sssssarah licked her lips hungrily at the mention of eggs.

Percy raised an eyebrow, unsure exactly what kind of bedtime stories do adult Dracaenas tell their children but it surely wasn’t something he would tell Estelle about.

The curtain behind Sssssarah was swiped open, “Don’t you mean a Basilisk?” Hazel said looking confused, she was standing but it was obvious she was limping on her side, Nico was sitting up from the cot looking at all of them confused, before his eyes glanced over at Prim.
“Thatsssss the fancier term for it,” Sssssarah told her, “Their origin issss’nt exactly clear sssssome may ssssay it’sssss from a European Lore but the onessss you musssst’ve encountered before were from thisssss realm and not the one where ssssshe belongssss” she pointed at Prim.

“What do you mean? She’s not from a different realm––she’s a Greek demigod” Percy says, confused as to what the Dracaena said, it didn’t occur to him about what she meant. “And certainly not Zeus’ kid––I checked her pupils, no sign of him” Thalia sighed, there was a bit of sadness there, it hurt Percy a bit too.

“You kind of missed the claiming, it turns out she’s not one of the big three” Percy lowered his head for a bit, “She’s Persephone”
Thalia’s blue eyes grew wide about to speak, “No she’s not” Nico cut through, shaking his head.

Percy was puzzled, like hadn’t he seen the holographic symbol of Persephone on top of Prim’s head a few hours ago, during the Chariot race in which she crashed and suddenly self-healed herself (Perhaps that's a gift from Persephone but he wasn’t sure).
“She’s from another pantheon,” Nico said, leaning over to Prim's cot, His eyes showed signs of devastation, touching around his fingers the green and red color feather that was stuck in her hair, and he pulled it out.

“This was the warning.”

Chapter Text

Prim:

I can’t remember what happened, all I know is that my body is aching. I could barely move, let alone open my eyelids.

The sound of a door opening brought my attention, “I sent Magnus a letter, he’ll most likely respond by breakfast, but…Where’s Chiron?” Someone says panting, it sounded like Annabeth, but I might be wrong.

“Avoiding us at best” says another voice sighing, that was obviously Nico Di Angelo, for some reason he sounds annoyed.

My head feels like a pounding pain, swirling me in and out of hearing their conversations. I felt myself being pulled by someone to sit up straight.

"Beta,” my father says in a soft tone, “Wake up, it’s time to go.” I open my eyes, seeing him trying to wake me up, “5 more…hours” I groan, closing back my eyes and leaning my head onto his chest, he chuckles. There wasn’t any sun outside but I knew he meant we had to leave now from where we had spent the night.

I could feel him carrying me outside, the cold air of dawn was pricking my skin, Dad leaned me over to sit on his motorcycle, and I could hear his footsteps walk back to the porch of the house.

“You sure you can’t just wait until morning? The sun isn’t even up” someone says to my father, her voice sounding very feminine. I can’t remember who she was.
“Best to get moving while no one is up, the last thing we all need is consequences if they find out where we were last night.”

The female voice stayed silent for a second, I think she must’ve rolled her eyes before speaking again, “Don’t remind me, I’ve already gotten rid of that other problem as you requested”
“Right—thank you again, I know that was a difficult decision you made, and I appreciate it a lot”
“Pff––I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for the kid, she’s getting older you know, you need to tell her-“
“No”
“But what will happen when they find out––”
“They won’t”
“But––”

“They––won't” I heard my father say through gritted teeth, It always scared me when he would do that, it was the closest thing I’d ever seen him get mad.
He took a deep breath, “I have a plan, simple as that––I’ll wait until a certain age, enough to understand it”
“My sister used to say the same thing” the female's voice sounded sad, “look where that led her”
“I’m sorry about your loss, she had a good soul, she knew what was about to happen and accepted it.”

There was another moment of silence before I heard my father speak again, “Same time next year?”
“Next Winter Solstice”

I remember waking up a few hours later from the bright sunny morning, we had stopped over at a gas station. Dad was leaning on the seating, staring at the distance where a large blue sign of the next state was, he somehow sensed I was awake cause he looked behind him to see me stretch and yawn.

“You missed it, there was a herd of cows passing by” he points at the empty road smiling. “Were you crying?” I asked, seeing that his nose was red, his expression changed, pointing at his ear to signal me to listen. The sound of a mourning dove calling made me smile.

“What are they telling us?” he asked watching me get up to find where it was coming from, “I think they are saying hello”

“She is saying all is well––my allergies will clear up” he blew his nose on a handkerchief making another stream of tears come out, I let out a laugh. “A mourning dove is a sign of a peaceful passing to a new beginning, we’ll be passing Oklahoma, and the calling the bird is telling us is ‘Safe journey’”

“How do you know that?”
He gets up from the seat, “My mother used to tell me this, she loved birds,” my father's smile was weak, I was surprised, he never really spoke much about his family, he always looked sad whenever I’d ask him.
“Her favorite was the Emerald Dove”
“Like the state bird of Tamil Nadu?” I questioned remembering how he showed me the picture of the Emerald Dove at the library.

“Exactly, that's where she was from, said they reminded her of my father”
“Why?”
“Cause he got attacked by a whole flock of them when they first met” he held a laugh, so did I, the image of it appearing in my head like a cartoon. “Where was he from?”
“Punjab, the northern part of India, a brave man with a bright mind, he made the best lentil soup” he looked up at the cloudy sky and then back at me.

“Do you want to know why I’m telling you all this?”
I gave him a shrug, and he smiled, leaning down to my 5-year-old height, and held my hand.
“Because someday, someone will ask you what you are, and you can tell them you come from the soul of a beautiful place where stories are cherished and never forgotten, no matter how many times someone rewrites them, and one day––you will know my story”

An odd sense of warmth came through me like he meant for me to understand what he was saying, a useful meaning of information. He says the word my—like he’d worry over how I’d react to it, but I didn’t.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, “Will I ever know my mother's story?” He stood silent for a long time, staring at me, unbeknownst to my question before he blinked. “We’ve spoken about this, Priy––you already know who your mother is. She’s the divine mother of the universe, she’s everywhere and the only mother you ever need in your life.”

The reality struck me knowing this was only a flashback, but I had so many questions to ask him if that was true, ‘Have we spoken about my mother?’ Or was he making it all up so that I didn’t know who she was? The sight of him faded to black with the sound of slow applause coming near me “Great job” said someone.

I knew who it was, the sight of the voice appeared in front of me, not in its true form but just glowing red eyes shadowing its image.
“It’s about time, we finally get to have a proper conversation”

“W-who are you?” I swallowed back the crack forming in my throat.
“Oh, it’s too soon to know that, but we both already know who am I”

The voice sounded familiar yet unknown, both raspy and cold– “You’re the voice, aren’t you? That’s been in my head?”

“Sure, you can say that” The voice stayed near the shadow, it was hard to see what it looked like, taking the figure of different forms.
“What do you want!” I started shouting. It laughed, “Nothing important––yet. You have so much to learn, given that now you have a clue about who you are”
“What?”
“Oh sweetie, weren’t you just claimed, did you forget that? The Goddess Persephone has claimed you as her daughter, you, are in such danger right now” I thought back to that moment the voice said, I was in such a panic over being claimed by a Goddess, that I had made a run for it into the woods, not believing how this may have been real. A Goddess of Spring is my mother—no that can’t be true.

“What do you mean? How can I be in danger?” The air started to feel cold from wherever I was, nothing but darkness––almost too similar to the solitary cell back in prison.
“Oblivious girl, I don’t blame you, your father taught you everything––but––your origin, that idiot has failed to teach you!” My heart dropped when it mentioned my father, but the way that the voice spoke about him made me angry.

“Don’t talk about my father that way!” I tried lunging forward at the shadow, but fell in the process, hitting my face on the floor, “Be mad all you want, either way, you’re in danger and this will only kill you quickly unless you accept my guidance” The voice spoke again, I had to ignore it––this is all just a dream, I’m still asleep somewhere that had Annabeth and Nicos voices talking about something that isn’t any of my business.

“I don’t want any of your help!” I said, putting my hands on my head and feeling my bracelet still tied to my hair.
“Don’t you want to find your father? I’ll tell you where he is” I look back at the red eyes, “No––you lying”
“I don’t lie, I know you’ve been wanting to know where he is, and I’m the only one who has the answer, surely you are still in shock, not to worry, if you don’t want my help, then that’s fine. Go ahead and deal with the lies they’ll tell you at this camp. They are trying to hide the truth from you, don’t you see that? But don’t worry, soon the Gods will come hunting you down and you’ll just go down like the others”

My breathing tensed “W–what others?”
The voice gave a deep chuckle, “Oh that good for nothing father of yours––what has he done to you and––”
“Shut Up!” I wanted to feel that burn of anger inside of me but I seem to not be that mad right now. Annoyed is more of the emotion I feel towards this stupid voice. “My father is a good man! He would never––” I stopped myself, I didn’t even know what to say, ‘He would never what? Hurt me? Leave me?’ That couldn’t be right. There had to be a different reason.

I’ve always known he was alive. I know that he’s somewhere, somewhere I don’t know. There's no way I’m taking the chances of trusting this fucking voice.
‘But what if it’s telling the truth?’ Oh great, another voice is taking control of me, but it’s my thoughts this time.

Part of me didn’t want to believe I was in danger, but the other side of me was throwing the evidence right at my face, how else do you explain the things that have been happening to me?

I want to find my Dad, I do, but how do I know if this is a trap? No one just offers to tell you where your father is, even after 3 long years of not remembering what happened.

“No” I shake my head, “I’ll make my own decision, I’ll find my father my own way, with or without my memory” The red eyes from the shadow seemed to glow brighter in front of me, “Very well, enjoy the torture these Gods will put you through, but remember my words when they stab you in the back as betrayal and just so you know they will–”
My vision blurred, a strained tightness formed around my throat, I felt restrained, my arms couldn’t move, and my legs were nonexistent with movement. “I’ll leave you with a little remembrance”

There was pressure above my chest, I couldn’t breathe. Thousands–if not–millions of needles were digging through my skin injecting me with literal fire. A ringing blasted my ears so loud it started echoing between warmth and voices coming in and out of my head.

“What do you mean another pantheon!? That’s impossible, there is no way that's true” I heard Percy argue.
“Look, we're telling you the truth, why else would Mr. D and Chiron not want us to know? The Gods are hiding this from us––or at least were before Macaria told me to prepare the camps"
“Not to mention a sudden war that's going on in the underworld, it’s no wonder we’re all like this right now” said another voice, that must be Hazel.

There was a sound of the door opening once more but multiple footsteps were heard coming in. “Hey guys, I brought the Hypnos kids”
Another set of footsteps came right behind the other group, only this one sounded heavier, “How come you didn’t tell us there's a fucken war happening right now!”

“Whoa, language there Peter! I just got here” that was Dionysus, he didn’t sound too shocked by Percy's anger. “Mr. D tell us the truth, Who is she!”
“Uh guys-” another person says but got cut off.

“What are you talking about? She a daughter of Persephone”
“Cut the lie!”
“Percy!”
“Guys-”
“What lie?”
“The false claim Zeus wanted to happen so she could be sent on the quest, we know you were all hiding it from us,"
“That’s none of your business-”
“It is if the Underworld’s having a whole war down there with the pantheon that's causing this chaos!”
“No–”
“YOU GUYS!” someone shouts drawing out a curtain near me, “She’s seizing!”

There was a tumble of steps running up to me, I lost sense of what they were saying. I was being thrown in and out of consciousness, losing my own thoughts by the ache my head was feeling––the force of a mallet on solid metal. Someone tried to open my eyelid but I still couldn’t see who it was due to my eyes rolling to the back of my head.

“It'sssss the poissssson! It’sssss sssssstarting to take effect!”
“Quick, Clovis put her on her side!”
Someone tried to grab my arm but then there was a loud thud on the floor. Somebody shouted something before another voice said “He’s asleep!” That was Pranjal.

“Lucky” another person says annoyed. “That’s it! Everyone stand back! You––don't touch her!” Dionysus shouts.
“But–”
“Don’t!”

The pain stopped, my eyes were wide open, my body sat up, and I could hear my voice letting out a scream before collapsing back into sleep.

~*~

There was light beaming through somewhere when I awoke. Birds were chirping, with a faint sound of arguments coming from outside.
I looked around noticing my surroundings, I was at the infirmary, great––not.

I smelled both awful and earthy, looking at myself covered in dry blood, I regretted licking my lips when I tried sitting up.

Chiron came through the door, seeing how I was still a bit dazed out but very much alive, “are you in any pain?” he asked. I shook my head, “do you remember what happened last night?” I looked down at the floor, trying to recollect what got me into this mess, “I got claimed, I ran into the woods, and blacked out” I half lied, I wasn’t going to tell him why I panicked nor what memory I just regained.

He gave a small nod, I stared at him confusingly, wasn’t he going to ask me anything else? Like why am I covered in blood? Or what the fuck even happened with the seizing? He was acting as if nothing had happened or did it even happen?

“You might want to freshen up before you come outside, take your time” He then points at the closed bathroom by the corner. I felt relieved he didn’t ask me if I remembered anything, but I think he might have just been afraid to ask due to how I looked when I realized how badly I was drenched in dry blood by the time I locked myself into the bathroom.
I gave myself a quick shower to avoid the crunchy texture that was left all over my hair, the bathroom even had its own small washing box to clean my clothes. Those things always made a weird sound but the clothes ended up smelling like fresh lemon floor cleaner.

Chiron was still in the infirmary when I stepped out, he motioned for me to come outside, “Come on, you should start getting your things from the Hermes cabin, you're moving to your new one.”

What did he mean by ‘New one?’ Did he mean a new cabin? Am I going to be placed with the Demeter kids? I mean, it makes sense, Persephone is her daughter. I’ll have to stay with them.
All eyes were on me when I stepped outside, but no one made a comment there were weird stares, and new faces whom I had never seen before, they were all girls wearing silver things on their heads like an upside down tiara, each of them glowed with health and youth. They were also staring at me, even the one dressed in punk with a pixie cut.
Why do I feel like I’ve seen these girls before?

The campers quickly cleared the way when I walked over to the Hermes cabin, hopefully, no one was going to make any remarks when I went in.

I was expecting them to just gasp, or still be asleep, instead they were all huddled together trying to look at something that Georgie was holding near my bunk. It wasn’t until I made my way to where she was that I saw her holding a crumpled piece of paper with a picture of my mugshot.

Why was she showing them this? “Georgie?” I say, confused by what was going on, my bunk bed was undone with my pillowcase open, revealing my prison uniform and the makeshift knife, did they all see this? What the heck?
“Georgie!” I shouted furiously “What did you do?”

She was silent—-all of them were. I snatched the paper from her hands, trying to understand what it said. I’ve seen enough movies to know that the red words on top of the picture either say Missing or Wanted, but I can’t figure it out.

“How could you!” she finally said, her tone was angry. I looked at her “What?”
“First you lied to me about the Chariot race and now I find out what you did! You Psychopath!” She pushed me with so much force, that I fell back––hitting the back of my head on the bunk. What was she talking about? Did the paper say what I did?

I tried getting up before she tried to tackle me, I didn't want to fight her or anyone. “Georgie–Georgie, No!” two of the Mercury kids held her back, they ended up lifting her so she wouldn’t kick me. “Take her outside, everyone––out! Now!” Travis shouts, pushing everyone out the door, no one looks back, if anything they are glad to leave the cabin with Georgie screaming “I thought we were friends!”

Connor shut the door behind him, leaving the three of us inside. I didn’t realize how awful they both seemed to appear, let alone the rest of their siblings. The brothers looked like they were going through a stage of grieving, teary-eyed and holding back sobs, why did they look like that? “How did she get this?” I asked them, referring to the paper, I wasn’t going to show them the picture again if they had already seen it.

“She said she found it on the ground when we all went to find you, Di Angelo, and Hazel in the woods––of course, we didn’t believe her about that but…” Travis cut himself off, wiping the tears from his face. I worried he was going to ask me if it was true, but Connor spoke before he could.

“The point is, Georgina’s a bit outraged since last night after you got claimed––she told the Mercury kids you were a Prisoner and word has started spreading now to the rest of the Romans. Don’t worry, we made sure to not make them say anything to you, you’ve been through enough.”
I held back my breath for a few seconds, trying to understand why they even bothered standing up for me. I've done nothing to deserve that.

Then again I also needed to understand Georgie's emotion to act this way, ‘Did I actually do something horrible?’
“I don’t blame her” I sigh, “she has every right to be mad at me” I stare down at the pillowcase now in my hands with the uniform and makeshift inside, I can’t manage to find my belt anywhere when I doubled checked in gathering my things, I thought maybe someone brought it back to my bed. I grabbed the paper frog I made back in my cell, placing it on Georgie’s bunk.

“Thank you,” I tell them, before stepping out the door. “Wait” Travis stopped me, I tensed.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where Cherry is? She’s not in her cage” I loosened my tense shoulders and looked back at the giant glass cage where they kept the snake before shaking my head.

More campers were now outside but they weren’t looking at me, they were looking at the far end of the Cabins where both Hepestus and Athena kids were running around as fast as they could, building something next to another cabin.
It wasn’t until I got closer that I noticed they were rebuilding the side of Cabin 13.

Painting the right side of the black cabin into a dark Fuchsia color so it would look like the polar opposite of Hades’ style. The rose bushes that were once there have now changed to look like a garden, with so many flowers everywhere. The symbol that claimed me had appeared on the top of the split-painted door frame with the one next to it being from Hades––oh so that’s why it looks familiar.

“She's coming, move over” someone whispers as they see me walk by, “Miss Evans” I heard Chiron come up next to me. He noticed my confused face at what was going on, “Unfortunately your cabin isn’t ready yet, I can hold on to your belongings for now in my office, perhaps you could go and get yourself some breakfast while you wait” he says so calmly. I felt afraid to give him my pillowcase knowing that the paper was there but he already knew what I did so what's the point of being afraid of that?

Before I gave it to him, I opened it to take out the makeshift, giving myself no other choice but to keep it close to me since I’d lost my only other weapon. Chiron didn’t say anything when I took it out, I tried to fool him by using it to tie my hair up in that weird pencil trick I’ve seen Uva do with a porcupine quill.

It felt weird having my hair up again, despite this being the second time I managed to tie my hair up, it reminded me of the short hairstyle I used to have.
I don’t want to remember that.

~*~

Out of my habit, I almost made my way to the Hermes table for breakfast after I had cleaned myself up. I stopped myself nearly enough that they noticed before I was waved down by Hazel at the far end table–correction––the Hades table.

She was sitting there with Frank, Nico was nowhere in sight as far as I knew. If he were to show up at the table, I didn’t feel so trusting to be there if another Georgie situation was going to happen.

I saw on the other side of the table it seems that the campers who built half of the cabin had also painted the section of the seating in my favorite color. Was this necessary?
I stared at the food awkwardly, mostly expecting that it would look the same just like the Hermes one, instead, it looked different, inedible––besides the eggs, fruit, and bagels, everything else matched what the Demeter and Aphrodite kids would eat.

Gavin and Uva once told me it was because some campers were Vegans and their food was accommodated. Now it made me wonder if Nico and Hazel were vegans too.

I spotted Nico sitting with Will and the Apollo children, Pranjal was with them as well though he and Will didn’t look too good, almost in consultation with each other. I think.
Coincidentally Nico looked over to where table 13 was and met my eyes, the stare wasn't like the other times when he threw fruit at me, rather he was instead glaring in my direction like I had done something wrong. Did I do something wrong? Or does he know what I’ve done?

Quickly I grabbed a piece of toast and made my way to the arena hoping there was some sort of training today, if not then hiding there was my best option.

Despite my effort to try and not think of everything that I thought I knew about myself was suddenly gone. When the voice had spoken to me about being in danger, I surely wasn’t safe to believe it, but then the incident with the Hybrid occurred, and I still can’t process how it happened.

All I kept thinking about were 2 things; 1) I’m a daughter of Persephone, and 2) My father is alive.
Just remembering that small thought, made me cry and I failed miserably to stop it. Even when wiping the tears away with my free hand, I kept stumbling and tripping when I got to the arena.

It was empty, which of course it would be since I’m here early, no one in sight besides the barrel with weapons on the left side. I munched the rest of my bread, tasting the dryness beginning to scratch my throat, shit I should’ve gotten water or something to wash it down.

I couldn’t stop coughing when I tried to swallow, I tried hitting my chest when gasping for air. Though the way I was hitting myself could have bruised me, it didn’t, quite frankly I forgot about the self-healing part about myself.
Was this power given to me by my mother?

Or is it like a curse? Maybe a practical joke from the Olympian gods to mess with my already damaged brain?

I took a glance at the sky, annoyed at the cloudy sight it had with barely any sunlight. If this was a joke from them, then I had to see it for myself.
Reaching over to the barrel, I searched for something sharp, a dagger. Seems to be the same one that Dionysus had stabbed me with.

The blade looked sharp, perhaps enough to even slice a piece of paper if it fell so lightly on it, I used the point of it to prick my finger, and a small drop of blood began to appear before drying up, in moments the wound closed, why is this happening to me!
Does this make me immortal? Am I immortal?

I cut the palm of my hand, watching the same thing happen, ‘What if I cut my finger off?’ I thought to myself, ‘would it grow back? Or do I need to attach it for it to still work?’ So many more questions were flooding my head as I started to make a deeper cut, ignoring the pain that was coming, I didn’t feel the need to care about it, I was now trying to find the bone.

“What are you doing!” I didn’t notice who was coming up to me until they grabbed my wrist and yanked the blade off my hand. Pollux had thrown the dagger across the other side of the arena and looked at me with worry on his face, “Are you out of your mind?!”
If this was a different scenario, I would’ve been the one asking him to eat a KitKat the wrong way.

“Don't tell me what to do, it’s none of your business!” I jerked my arm away from his grasp, the wound was healing itself, I groaned as the tears kept trickling down my face, “Clearly it will be if you were hurting yourself”
“I wasn’t”
“Prim, you were trying to cut your hand off! What in the name of Olympus is wrong with you!”
I clutched my injured hand still holding on to the pain as it began to fade away, the fact that he just had to bring up the stupid Olympian Gods into this.

I began to shake my head now crying, “I can’t do this, I can’t be here, I can’t–” My mouth began to taste like warm salt water.
“Hey, Hey it’s alright–”
“For fuck sake! It’s not! Everyone here is afraid of me! I feel like shit and I don’t know what's going on half of the time!” I covered my face so that he didn’t see me cry more, “I want to leave camp, I have to!”

It was silent for just a few seconds, I almost thought he had left me here to cry on my own, but when I looked up he seemed to be debating on whether he should hug me or not, I took a small step back so that he’d know I didn’t want him to do that.

“You're just over worrying, it takes some time to get used to after being claimed”
“How long? Cause to rejog your memory, I am an outsider who is being judged and hated for something, I can’t remember happening” I sob.
“Calm down” he waved his hand over my head, the thoughts from earlier seemed to have vanished, and I almost felt…calm.

“H-How did you do that?” I stutter, “An old trick my dad gifted me, it’s temporary—works on everyone, except for certain mortals, people who like pineapple on pizza, heteros, drakons…and me” he mumbles the last part, “what?”
“Oh well sometimes Mortals—“
“No not that—why wouldn’t it work on you if your father is Dionysus?” I ask him, concerned now that my mind is blank and I have this thought to think over.

Pollux shakes his head, “Nothing, here” he reaches over to his pocket and hands me a rainbow packet, “What's this?”
“Chewing gum, perhaps you could focus on that instead of self-harming” I rolled my eyes while taking it, it smelled fruity like candles. I can’t remember when was the last time I had gum.

“Do you need bandages?” He brought up, I shook my head, showing him my hand in perfect tact, he looked stunned. “I wasn’t hurting myself––just wanted to see how far I could go”
“How long did you know this?”
“Two days ago–I think?”
“Does anyone else know this?”
“Your father, and probably the rest of the camp after seeing that stunt I pulled” I rubbed my collarbone at the reminder of how painful pushing it back was.

“Right, everyone was talking about that after you ran into the woods,” I felt a chill crawl down my back, the image of that Cockatrice swallowing me, it was strange––I knew what it was but had no idea how.
“I think this is my power…my––mo–ther gave me?” I couldn’t even say the word properly, it felt weird saying something I had no problem pronouncing before getting claimed.

“I don’t think healing is in her inscription, the Goddess has a few titles but not that”
“Oh what do you know–she could’ve given it to me like how Dionysus gave you that calming thing you did a minute ago”
He shrugs “It wasn’t much of a gift, I used it too much on myself, Dad took that part away, he even had the audacity to do the same with my siblings in case they––” he stopped himself looking away while rubbing the sweatbands on his wrist, then he changed the subject.

“Anyways the point is maybe. You could ask the Demeter kids to help you get used to your new powers” he mentions, I gave him a look, unsure if that’s even a good idea since the last encounter I had with those people.

“No, absolutely not” I took a few more steps back, “I have nothing in common with them, I’m nothing like them, I might even be the opposite of Persephone”
“Oh come on Prim–there is no such thing as opposite when it comes to her, you’ll be fine”
I let out a groan, if I still had emotions I’d feel very annoyed with him, instead I opened up the packet and popped a piece of gum in my mouth.

“There probably is if–Blagh!” I quickly spat out the gum, “That’s gross what was that!?” he took a look at the wrapper I threw on the floor, “That was the mint flavor”
“I hate mint”
“Well that’s one thing you and your mom have in common” I could sense my emotions coming back which felt like I needed to cry again.

“Come on let's go find the Demeter kids, or at least one of them” he motioned his head over for me to follow him, “Why are you so determined on me seeing them,”
“Because they could help you better than my father could”
“Why?”
He stayed silent again, I stopped walking. “Pollux, why?”
“Well, he kinda said that he’s no longer going to train you-”
“What!”
“I don’t know exactly why but it’s probably due to the argument we had last night with the Demeter kids–and uh––long story short, we kind of owe them a whole summer's worth of working at the strawberry field”

I threw the hardest facepalm at my face, unbelievable. “You guys betted on me!?”
“What? No, well–we did have hopes you were one of us, cause–why else would Dad want to train just you, didn’t know how long he would have kept up with the act until he claimed you. But no, we didn’t argue because of that, you were supposed to stay in the Demeter cabin”
“But I didn’t”
“Yeah thanks to us, we even vouched for you to come stay in our cabin, but Chiron said it was best you shared with Nico––and Hazel I guess?”
This new information made my head spiral, I don’t think I even want to know what would’ve happened if I had to be in Cabin 4, perhaps feel the same way I did when entering the new split cabin of Hades...and Persephone now.

~*~

I had no other choice but to follow Pollux to the strawberry field where–of course–the children of Demeter/Ceres were, only they seemed to be building a fence away from a section of the ground. When we got near a weird-looking creature with glowing green eyes and sharp teeth appeared right in front of us shouting, “Peaches, Peaches–Peaches, PEACHES!”

What the fuck is that?
The weird thing pointed at the ground and then at us while it kept shouting the same word over and over again. I looked down, there was a golden rope aligning the separation between the campground and the field that wasn’t there before.

“What's this for?” Pollux called out for one of the campers' attention, Meg looked over with a scornful expression, “To prevent her from stepping in” she pointed at me.

“Excuse me?” I said baffled by what she meant, “Oh please, like you don’t know what you’re now capable of doing to our harvest, now that you're the daughter of Persephone chances of you ruining all our hard work is unacceptable and we don’t want that”

Is she serious right now? “I have no intention to do anything to your garden, I don’t want any part of this stupid field” The way I was saying it annoyed me to think that they were all quick to judge me. Perhaps they heard about the paper.

“Meg, you’re being over dramatic” Pollux sighs, “She’s not, we’re just protecting our honor here, and your cabin should do the same,” Miranda tells him, she gave me a quick up and down look before looking away.

“I’m leaving” I mutter ready to walk away, “No, Prim stay right there, let me fix this” Pollux put his hand up to stop me, he stepped through the rope and went over to talk to them, I tried to do the same but something pushed me back, making me fall onto the grass.

A burst of laughter came from the Roman campers howling at my foolishness. The weird creature started shouting again, this time close to my face, “Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches!!!” it tried to grab me but at that instinct, I swatted him off where it then hit the ground with a thud, it let out a noise of screaming followed but the sight of its hand molding into a dark brown.

“PEACHES!” Meg shouts running up to the creature, just when the molding was starting to spread around its body. “Peaches?” it grunted falling back down, the thing was weakening. “No, No, NO!” she held it close to her chest screaming as it rotted away.

I was shaking uncontrollably at what just happened, did I do that? Did I just kill it? My breathing was building up into a panic, I wanted to cry. The sight of Meg fisting her hands together wasn’t a good sign, two sharp blades appeared in her hands as she lunged towards me with enough force, I lost my breath. “I’ll kill you!”

I tried pushing away from her but the feeling of her sword hit me in the face, causing me to throw her off as well. I felt a trickle of blood on my cheek, she just cut me.

"Show her" Said the voice, incending that burn into my body, "Show her what you are capable of"
My panting stopped, and slowly I turned my head to look straight into Meg's eyes right as the cut healed itself on its own.

She's about to regret ever doing that.

Chapter Text

Nico:
Annabeth came through the door out of breath, “I sent Magnus a letter, he’ll most likely respond by breakfast, but…Where’s Chiron?” She asked, looking around. “Avoiding us at best” Nico rolled his eyes, he wasn’t handling that it’s been taking forever to wait for Chiron to show up, all seven of them have been waiting for the centaur to show up in hopes of discussing what Nico has uncovered.

Prim was still sound asleep in her cot, Rachel suggested to pull the curtain over and leave the girl to rest while they quietly brought up the topic again about the Cockatrice/Basilisk. Percy wasn’t taking it well when the Dracaena Sssssarah was trying to explain that each European creature was indifferent to the Greek realm. “Your versssssion of the Basssssilisssssk verssssse their’sssss”

“But how did it find us?” Percy says “It must’ve known where the camp was located?”
Nico rolled his eyes “As I said, the other pantheon sent it as a warning to the Olympians, it knew where she was, they know something we don’t”

“What do you mean another pantheon!? That’s impossible, there is no way that's true” Percy tried to argue, Nico sighed, “Rachel, Hazel, and I went to the New York Library to find some answers, apparently we found out that there had been a prophecy about a war with a pantheon––if not multiple of them”
“No–No that can’t be true” Percy's eyes went wide.
“Look, we're telling you the truth, why else would Mr. D and Chrion wouldn’t want us to know? The Gods are hiding this from us––or at least were before Macaria told me to prepare the camps”
“Not to mention a sudden war that's going on in the underworld, it’s no wonder we’re all like this right now” Hazel brought up.

Percy looked like he needed to take a seat, his reaction didn’t seem to be alright, Nico had expected him to go into a range, break something, heck––even explode the piping in the infirmaries bathroom, but Annabeth pulled him to sit before he could faint, Grover was already shoving tissue papers into his own mouth.

The door opened revealing Reyna arriving back with Clovis, Kyler, and Fabian, “Hey guys, I brought the Hypnos kids” The children of Hypnos walked in looking worse since the last time Nico had seen them two and a half weeks ago.
“See what I mean” Hazel points at the three of them, “Wait, where's Adeline?”
“Drowning herself in Soda at the game room” Kyler yawns, “Why are we here? You know our magic is no use right now”

“Mussssst try and help the girl when ssssshe awaken’sssss” Sssssarah tells them, pointing at the curtain “Paranoid sssssleep isssss your thing, isssssn’t it?”
“Yeah but I doubt it would be any help, have you seen how ugly this is!?” Fabian pointed at the bags under his eyes, “No amount of foundation is gonna fix it so what makes you think we can fix––whoever’s in there?” he questioned trying to take a look behind the curtain. Rachel pushed him back “It’s just Prim”

“Oh gods” Clovis gave a soured expression, “Why should we fix her? Mr. D told everyone not to get involved because it might trigger–” he stopped himself turning around hearing heavy footsteps come through the door.
Mr. D appeared with Pranjal behind him, Nico was ready to speak up about what took him so long, but Percy beat him to it by getting up from his seat and shouting what he was holding in.

“How come you didn’t tell us there's a fucken war happening right now!”
“Whoa, language there Peter! I just got here” Mr. D tried to pipe down Percy's rage. “Mr. D tell us the truth, Who is she!” Nico managed to bring up as well, pointing at the curtain.
“Uh, guys-” Pranjal looked around trying to say something but was cut off.

Mr. D rolled his eyes, “What are you talking about? She a daughter of Persephone”
“Cut the lie!”
“Percy!” Annabeth grabbed his shoulder.
“Guys-”
“What lie?”
“The false claim Zeus wanted to happen so she could be sent on the quest, we know you were all hiding it from us,” Nico ignored his leg hurting from standing for too long, but he kept his ground up from his irritation.
“That’s none of your business-”
“It is as if the Underworld’s having a whole war down there with the pantheon that's causing this chaos!” Hazel seemed to be on the same energy level as her brother, they didn’t want any more restrictions on what they needed to know.
“No–”
“YOU GUYS!” Pranjal shouts, drawing the curtain, showing a seizing Prim, “She’s seizing!”

Everyone ran up to the cot, except Nico who could barely move anymore, it was best that he didn’t get any closer to Prim, despite her having a seizure, he saw Mr. D quickly pull Pranjal away from trying to do his job.

“It'sssss the poissssson! It’sssss sssssstarting to take effect!”
“Quick, Clovis put her on her side!” Reyna tells him he tried grabbing Prim by her arm but instantly his eyes rolled to the back of his head, dropping with a thud onto the floor. Kyler shouted, “Is he dead!?”
Pranjal ran over to check Clovis' pulse, his eyes widened, “He’s asleep” Nico almost thought the worse but was relieved he was alright somehow. “Lucky” Fabian groans annoyingly, with Kyler throwing their hands up “Aw no fair!”

Dionysus pushed everyone away, “That’s it! Everyone stand back! You––” He points at Pranjal, “don't touch her!”
“But–”
“Don’t!” Mr. D extended his hands and arms out, muttering an enchantment, causing an unconscious Prim to stop shaking, she looked to have awoken, but it didn’t seem like herself, she sat up from the bed with bulgy eyes, letting out an ear-bleeding scream before throwing herself back into the cot, where it looked like she had gone back to sleep.

Nico’s mouth was agape, everyone was doing the same after seeing what just happened. Did Mr. D just perform an exorcism on her?

“Someone check her pulse” he muttered, Pranjal tried but once more the God prevented it, “Not you,” he turned to see Thalia, “Thunder-Cat, check on her” Thalia checked, calmly responding, “it’s normal”

“There, she’s going to be alright. Now everyone get your butts out of here, come on!” The god snapped his fingers to get them all to leave, but Percy stopped him, “Not until you tell us what you and the gods are hiding from us”

“Oh for crying out loud” Mr. D muttered under his breath, “you should all be thankful that they were hiding it, haven’t you all complained over how complicated your parents are for not doing anything for you guys, well we’re doing something now–be happy”

“But why would they hide this one if it involved her, the Prophecy even said it had to do with the camp” Rachel brought up, Nico could clearly see the sudden drop of lies Mr. D had in his eyes, “What did the Prophecy say?” the Gods tone changed just the tiniest bit.
Nico took a deep breath already having Tyson’s words rewinding in his head, “The Wrath will step foot on campground, may challenge the descendants of all around, for dead’s spawns must kill the destiny of an enemy’s seal and to the Gods of unground vow who must break its deal.”
He tried to break down what it meant, surely it could mean anything good or bad, but either way, it was clear that it did in fact mean Hades had been responsible for it.

Dionysus snorts the biggest laugh ever, clenching his stomach as he threw his head back, “Hahaha, oh my–hahaha–no that's the most dramatic thing I’ve––hahaha– ever heard” he wipes a tear from his eye before clearing his throat and putting on a serious face, “but no–that's not the Prophecy–it was funny but no” his mouth twitched a little then he let out another laugh.
“The Wrath–pff this isn’t the Christian pantheon”

“Fine then, Prim’s the daughter of Persephone, now explain why you were all being warned by this feather only for it to be a giant Cockatrice/Basilisk chasing us in the woods” Percy snatched the feather from Nico’s hand to show it to Mr. D. This was what led the God to let out a cuss word in ancient greek, taking the feather away from Percy’s hand, every annoyance/silliness he was covering up from the truth had all disappeared.

“You guys really want to know?” he asked, studying it and earning a loud ‘Yes’ from all of them, including Sssssarah who added the extra S.
“Well too bad” and with that, Dionysus disappeared, leaving the grape-scented smoke to linger a little longer in the infirmary.

***
Hazel
Hazel watched as Nico mistakenly used his injured leg to kick the wall out of frustration, Percy looked like he was now on a mission to hunt Mr. D down for his answers.
It took a moment to let everyone gather what they understood through the conversation, and put Clovis on the cot Nico was previously lying on. “If he’s not going to say anything, then perhaps–she might?” Reyna admitted, giving a worry in her voice when she looked at Prim who was fast asleep.
“We can’t ask her, she lost her memories after her arrest 3 years ago” Rachel gave a shiver mentioning that the same happened with Hazel it was a weird feeling but understandable.

Percy turned towards Kyler who was standing next to him and grabbed them by their shirt, “You can fix that can you?” he said to them pointing at the unconscious Prim, “Excuse me?” Kyler said, offended, “Have you not heard our wallows? None of our abilities work, I can barely blink sometimes” They pulled away from Percy.

“They’re right, She may have no memories, but that doesn’t mean it could be recovered immediately even if we tried with the Hecate kids” Fabian slapped his hand on top of the girl’s forehead, annoyed he didn’t pass out just like his brother but he still kept his hand on her. “I will say that this…this feels different, not Lethe, not Godly––it’s not even in the void–” he started to sound choked up, followed by a big yawn, “this is some type of magic I’ve never sensed before”

“It must be from her pantheon–”
“Quit talking about the pantheon!” Percy says angrily cutting off Nico, already he was mad, Rachel walks up to him, “Percy there’s more to this, there is also a chance the Prophecy was given to the other realms”

“The Norse is one of them,” Hazel chimed in to remind them. Suddenly the door from the infirmary creaked open, a worried Lavinia poking her head in, “Hey, Uh we got a problem” Behind her the loud sounds of angry demigods arguing was audible enough to get all of their attention, everyone (minus Hazel and Nico) looked out the windows to see a whole fight insinuating with the children of Demeter throwing dirt and plants at the other campers.

“What’s up with them?” Thalia questioned, “They probably haven’t settled on the winnings with the bet” Fabian mentioned looking out the open door, “oh yeah, They still think they deserve the earnings since they were the closest to the answer. I mean they’re kinda right, I think?” Lavina fidgeted with her necklace at the sight of Meg’s carcass friend Peaches who appeared out of thin air to help them fight by throwing his diaper at some poor son of Tyche.

“Oh for Olympus’ sake!” Chiron shouted, trying to settle the argument before it got bad, or how Hazel saw it as his way to exclued himself from not seeing them in the infirmary. She could tell Nico thought the same thing when the others left the infirmary to help out, leaving just her, her brother, Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel standing there.

By far they have about 5% of new information from what they might know about Prim, but would it only be a matter of time before things get worse?
It questioned Hazel in a way that felt undescribed, she knew this girl's Pantheon background might be the reason for what happened when she got arrested, the only problem now is which Pantheon does something like that. She couldn’t think of a single one.
Even when asking Nico, he didn’t have an answer to it. Percy looked like he was deep in thought probably thinking the same thing Hazel was. With her free hand she tried to grab the crumbled piece of paper she had shoved in her sweater from earlier, only to find it not there, it must’ve fallen off when she rode Arion back to camp.

“Maybe she’s from a Pantheon that overtakes?” Annabeth suggested, bringing Hazel back to reality. “Like Carter and Sadie, Prim must’ve come from that, does her file say anything about her Father or something?”
“Just his name” Rachel mutters, “the separate digging I did about him wasn’t much, he’s part of some motorcycle gang called Bedlam Vice, There not much about them, most biker gangs are secretive, like Hells Angels or The Lipstick Devils” she shrugs while pacing back and forth writing something in her journal then stopping midway, “I should’ve taken that religion class back in freshman year” she muttered erasing the last thing she wrote and looked up at all of them.

“Come on, I think Ellas back at the Library after her nap, I need to tell her what information we got so far, it might help us.” They went to follow her but not before Nico went over to close the curtain over by Clovis’ cot, Pranjal had left him one of the cold grilled cheese sandwiches that Piper brought before by the chair, to which Nico snatched before leaving.

Hazel hadn’t realized that morning had risen, was everyone up for that long? She wondered. A mixed pool of Greek and Roman demigods all gathered around arguing with Chrion, only this time as she and the group passed by they overheard that this argument was about something different.

“By the Depths of Tarturus will she ever step foot into our cabin, did you forget what she can do to fruit? Imagine what might happen to all our harvest. No, absolutely not, She’s not staying with us!” Katie Gardener shouted in frustration.

“Let’s just build her a cabin like we did with the other Gods” another child of Demeter mentions, trying to solve the situation. “I mean we could just take her in, she's practically part of us now!” Gavin shouts from the other side of the crowd with his sister Uva shouting a ‘Yeah!’ In response.

“No, absolutely not. Now I’ve had enough of everyone's argument. There is a reason no one ever made a cabin for the Goddess, it’s only fair that I allow for Miss Evans to stay in cabin 13,”
This was what made Hazel stop mid-walk, causing Percy and Annabeth to bump behind her, it was no help that Nico and Rachel had done the same as well.

How could she forget about the cabin?

Nico and her had forgotten Persephone never even got one when both camps built the gods their own cabins and shrines. Hazel had received a letter from her father who stated that under no circumstances should they build his wife a cabin, the reasons were untold. She just thought it was a personal choice and instead informed Camp half-blood to build a small garden instead since she already had a temple at Camp Jupiter.

Now this just added another thought to both siblings' plates. Chiron went on to inform the Athena children to start creating a blueprint, Nico looked like he wanted to let the ground swallow him whole, and Hazel was ready to join him.

***
Nico
The big house library was not a popular place to be in, aside from the large ancient scrolls and artifacts, it was impossible to not get lost in there, but due to Ella’s feather trail, it was easy to find her at the corner where it looked to have been the cleanest place around the room, the harpy had a wall taped up with a vintage map that had Purple strings around it. It gave Nico a sudden flashback to last year when Will had a severe hyper-fixation with a true crime podcast about solving the Missing Winston case.

There weren’t any pictures on the strings, but rather sticky notes with numbers written around them. The floor was covered with open books. She was seated crisscrossed on the floor with three pencils shoved into her hair, reading all of the books at the same time.
“This doesn’t make any sense, nope, nope, the answer doesn’t exist” She held up the book farthest from her to read it closer.

“Ella?” Percy said softly to the Harpy, Ella looked up, there was crust in her eyes but not as bad as the last time Nico had seen her at the bookstore. He feared that she was going to go back to that state of delusion.

Surprisingly she didn’t, Ella instead took a deep breath as she looked around all five of them, and then her eyes met Rachel’s. “This is invalid, I do not like it–I do not like anything I can not understand” her voice shook throwing the book across the space they were in, Nico caught it before it hit Annabeth in the face, he took a closer look at the cover; ‘Hidden Theories; Detached the truth’ by Edmund Lawson, Translated to modern English by Ethel Montana. “Isn’t this one of the books Malcom’s mother sent him?” Annabeth said, seeing the familiar name of the writer who translated the book.

“Yes, Ella took it, needed more information for this” The Harpy stood up to look back at the pinned wall, pointing at one of the sticky notes. “Translation is hard, oh so hard––might take Ella years to solve, by then we’d all be toast––Toast like burnt bread; Invention by the warmth of stale bread and lard during the BC era” Ella blinked before squatting down to look at the books.

Nico glanced over to the sticky notes, Ella had written down the written passage from the first page of his Bible, somehow she must’ve copied the one from Rachel’s journal. “What have you found so far? Is it some kind of Prophecy?” Percy asked.

Ella slowly raised her head up at him in a questioning look, “Not a prophecy, nope, nope. It sounds more like a poem of incompletion” She shakes her head, reaching for a blue sticky notepad and writing something down. “In conclusion, Ella has only managed to translate three words– it’s not a prophecy––it’s a letter someone wrote, saying a warning” She ripped the note off the pad and smacked it onto Percy’s forehead.

Nico quickly swiped it off Percy to read it. Sure enough, the only three words it said were; “Send”, “Beware”, and “History”. That didn’t sound like a warning but they didn’t want to correct her, “That’s it?” Percy asked, Ella gave him a death stare. “Do not question her translation, she's doing the best she can” Annabeth smacked him on the chest. Nico had to admit that she was right, there are seven different ancient languages in that passage and even if they are difficult to learn, there was no way to find an easier way to get them done, unless they’d have to go back to the New York library, which is a no go.

Combining what Rachel must’ve told the Harpy it still wasn’t reliable to get Ella there only to eventually get her distracted by all those books, much less seeing Akila again and put themselves in more danger.

Nico took a long look at the wall once again, the Purple string had a random image going across the notes, usually, investigation boards would have the strings go up, down, or across, but the way Ella made it, looked traced just above the state of Maine and down to Georgia, then spread through the west side of the US map.

Hazel must’ve been looking at the board as well because she asked Ella what he would’ve said, “What are you trying to place here?” The harpy picked at the feathers in her arm. “Ella was told to make that, the place where time’s creation was hidden, told to travel west for a quest to unfold” she whispered the last part before going back to reading. Everyone’s eyes widened, “Was that a Prophecy?” Rachel says, “Hmm?” Ella’s eyes looked sleepy, “Ella, how did you know about the Prophecy?” Annabeth crouched down to look at her. “Tyson said you’ve been repeating it a lot, where did you find it? Did someone tell you?”

Ella stayed silent, Nico noticed in her eyes the familiar hold of pain she was holding back, the same kind he and Hazel had that prevented them from telling anyone what they knew, it wasn’t until they forced it out did it stop, but it still felt wrong to say it.
“You don’t have to tell us,” Nico tells her.

She sighed in relief then held up two fingers, whispering “Two Weeks” She then pointed at the wallboard, “The quest will take longer if she doesn’t hurry now, send her here”
It was clear to Nico who she was referring to, but what didn’t set well was knowing what Ella meant when she pointed to the whole section of a dangerous place in the country.

~*~
They left the Library with no other choice but another small grain of new information, Rachel stayed back to help Ellas task with what she meant to explain, while Percy left with Annabeth to send a message to someone else and check if Annabeths cousin had replied back. By then the entire camp was preparing themselves to head to breakfast even after staying up all night bickering over the bettings.

Overall they seem all right with whatever agreement Chiron gave them, unlike Nico who makes a mental note to convince Will to let him move into the Apollo Cabin. It occurred to him the memory of what happened when he last saw Will in that horror state, even earlier after he had some kind of disagreement with Mr. D. Something just didn’t look right.

“I’ll come to sit with you later, I need to find Will,” He tells Hazel quickly before going over to table 7, finding Will’s siblings all looking exhausted from the long light. Will was by the end of the table with his nephew Pranjal, both looked to be discussing something serious before Will’s blue eyes met with Nico’s dark ones, their conversation was dropped quicker than when he sat down next to his boyfriend.

“Are you alright?”
Will nods looking at his empty plate, “Yeah, yeah–I’m fine now, just had a–panic attack, I’m doing fine now” he finally faced Nico. Nico wasn’t sure if it was his own sleep deprivation or not, but there was that tired look he’d seen on himself that was now on Will, he tried to shrug it off and pulled himself together hoping it was in his head.

“Has Clovis awaken?”
“Still passed out” The rest of the Apollo children say in unison.
“I overheard Prim had woken up,” Pranjal broke the small silence, Nico felt a shiver run down his body, “H-how is she?”
“Don’t know, Mr. D won’t let me near her” he shrugs, Nico had remembered when Dionysus prevented him from checking on Prim’s health.
“Why is he not letting you?”
“He thinks I might know what she has and try to cure her”

Nico raised an eyebrow suddenly concerned about this, “What does she have?”
“As I said, I don’t know–unless I’m allowed to touch her, I’m only allowed to have a theory about it just by observing from afar, unfortunately”

“She has something that’s preventing her from using her powers” Will mumbled grabbing a waffle and started spreading Nutella and peanut butter on it. “How do you know that?” Nico turned to him stunned. “I checked her pulse that one time, she’s…different”
This perked up more remembrance from earlier, maybe this was related to Prim’s Pantheon. “Different how? Different Pantheon different? Magic Different? Good different? Bad different?”
“It’s cold” Will admitted with a mouthful of waffle, “So am I, how is that any different?”

“Nah, it’s not that” Pranjal shakes his head, “he means the way she’s handling something, ever noticed how she’s constantly flinching whenever someones near her?”
Nico had seen it but never made any assumption to it, “You think there’s something else?”
“Well if what you said earlier about her not being from this Pantheon is true, then maybe I can help, do you have her medical records?”
“No-“
“Yeah- Percy gave them to Chiron, but he locked them away in a safe that’s under his desk” Will said boringly, taking a sip from his tea. “I tried opening it a few days ago, the combination was impossible, Mr D. caught me in the middle of it and almost broke my stethoscope”
Nico felt a little shifted, he was confused, the prison copy that Percy gave him didn’t state anything about her medical history nor did he mention it, maybe Will is assuming it was her medical records?
He felt a sudden stare coming from his table, he took a quick glance and saw Prim standing there looking at him for just a second before grabbing a slice of bread from the table then walking away. He tried to ignore the way she looked at him, there was already too much he was having to uncover and the last thing he was going to need is to be near her after what happened.

***
Hazel
“Are you coming?” Frank asked, she didn’t realize he was three feet away from her, from the dining hall, everyone was already leaving to do their activities for the day, it was just her sitting there, trying to gather her thoughts together before it fades away when she zoned out. Frank looked worried when he saw her earlier, even offering to sit with her during breakfast so she wouldn’t be alone when Prim arrived to sit.

It was luck for Hazel, Prim had only walked up to the table. It was hard to tell what expression she had on her face. Mad? Annoyed? Uncomfortable? She ended up leaving with a piece of toast in hand. This was probably going to take time before the girl got used to her new routine.

“Yeah” she nodded, getting up to take Frank's hand, she took a quick glance over at the Apollo table where Nico was still seated next to Will.
Lavinia came up to the two Romans, followed behind was Teddy and Lola “You would not believe the kind of chaos Georgie is telling everyone–”
“Lavinia, now is not a good time” Hazel explains trying to rub her head from exhaustion, mistakenly she had used her injured arm to do that.

“Oh is it because of ‘you know who?’” She motions her eyes to where the cabins were located, Hazel had already seen the dark shade of fuschia being painted on the side of the cabin which upset her, knowing how much Nico loved that cabin, even she made her own accustoms to it, now it’s all piled up and cluttered.
“You mean–Voldemort?” Teddy gasped. Lola, daughter of Ceres, gave them a side eye, “no you dummy, about that girl who is now sharing the cabin with her and Nico, it’s no wonder you look frighten Hazel, I would feel that exact way if I had to bunk in with a Prisoner”

“Who told you that!” Hazel said all horrified that someone else knew this, the three, including Frank jolted by her voice, “Gwen told us, she heard it from Cassian, who heard it from Johnathan, who heard it from the rest of the Mercury kids, Ian confirmed it because Georgie told them all last night after finding a random Wanted flier” Lola crossed her arms together, “news is spreading around like wildfire right now, haven’t you noticed?”
Lavinia quickly gave her a nudge to shut up, Hazel by far was ready to throw a quartz at the girl, but she held it together by feeling Frank lightly squeezing her shoulder.

She reached over to her sweaters pocket, somehow realizing what happened to the paper, “I–I need to get Nico” she moved past them then ran towards the Apollo table but right then, the Huntress Reyna had beat her to it.

“Oh good your all here, Percy said we need to inform everyone for a council meeting, in Chirons office now, he said it’s urgent” she waved over for Frank to come over as well.

A thousand thoughts came running down Hazels mind, this must be about the quest, right? Or was it about all the campers knowing Prims charges? Either way it had to be one of those two because even after the discovery she worried what will be next for everyone. She turned to Nico who had zero focus over this, he knew something else.

The office wasn’t crowded yet which meant it was going to take some time for everyone to get there, Chiron was nowhere to be found in the office, his wheelchair was still there. Nico ran over to the desk, cussing to himself when he saw what was under there, Hazel went to check, seeing a large safe with a combination lock.
She questioned why was Nico reluctant about it, but that’s when she saw that the safe had already been opened up and empty inside

“Oh for the love of Grape juice, why are you all here!?” Mr. D boomed as he stepped into the room, scaring everyone with a jump. “Get him!” Percy shouts, behind the couch Lou Ellen threw a small golden ball pit ball at the God, causing it to spring out a black rope that tied him up.
Dionysus fell to the ground with a large grunt, he didn’t fight back, just looked defeated by the surprise attack.

“You have something urgent to tell us, all of us–theres no excuse’s now!” Percy says trying to get Mr. D to sit up, “Your going to tell us the truth!” there was angered tone coming from Percy’s voice.
Clarisse pushed Percy to the side, “Seriously Mr. D, We had to find out from Georgie and the Hypnos kids that the new girl is not just a wanted Prisoner but also part of a Prophecy!” She had a sight of enragement in her eyes, mixed with a hint of sadness.

Dionysus took a long blink after reading the room, “Alright, I guess we could start from the beginning,” he said, already knowing their next question.
“Don’t even sugarcoat anything” Annabeth begins.

“Okay fine, Long ago; before any of you existed, and some of your ancestors before that, there lived separate Pantheons apart from us, we had the Japanese, the Celtics, the Incas, and plenty of other ones. We didn’t live in proper harmony but we all made a specific deal to not get involved with each other, however, one particular God did invade that issue a couple thousand years ago, I won’t be pointing any names but just know that they were young and dumb to do so”
‘You?’ Hazel thought to herself, remembering the story of the time the God tried to invade India and cause a war with the Hindus.

“Any ways, about a month ago The Fates came to Olympus to warn Zeus over––a situation; which caused some chaotic trouble with somebody in general, we don’t know who it is––”
‘Hades’ Hazel thought once more.
“––but they created it and now are trying to handle it without getting the Demigods involved”
“Well that’s a first” Percy blurts out, everyone stays silent, comprehending what they were just told, Hazel looked like she didn’t seem to understand. Lisa (another daughter of Hecate) spoke “Then what does this have to do with us? And the Hypnos kids? Why are we at fault?” she threw her hands up.

“Because the little King of the Underworld is trying to fix this, he may or may not have been the one to cause a lockdown to the realm of the dead for safety when the news broke, along with every other deity or anything associated with working there, can’t leave that space in order to get their work done” Hazel stayed silent, at least it explains why the Lares disappeared at Camp Jupiter.

“Then why don’t they want the demigods involved? I thought that was the whole point they had demigod kids to do their work?” Hazel brings up.
“That, I do not have the answer to, Zeus only made the rules to not get the children involved for now, that’s why the newer demigods aren’t allowed to come in. But then–” He turned to look at Percy “you brought the girl to camp and somehow–– she became important.”

“Important how? Enough that this particular Patheon is sending out their own monsters to the camp? Because they want her!?” Percy shouts, Mr. D gulped seeing this side of Percy, to Hazel this was also a shock. The God glanced over at the open safe then sighing at the sight of it.

“The Prophecy” he muttered, bringing his head up, “Through fire, an unground vow must break, in Chicago's cell would be found a demigod to take. Gods will crash by the next morning and be returned with a new past mistake one was never to make.”

“Oh Gods” Rachel stumbled back, grabbing her head, her eyes flickered with the green glow, she jerked her head back gasping. “I–I remember now, that night–thats what Clotho said to Zeus, Lachesis–she held up this—Oh gods, Apollo” She whispered with her mouth covered in shock.

“What!? What was it?” Nico shook Rachel by her arms, “What lead him to be chained up?” he said, Rachel blinked, everyone gathered close to look at her, “Nico, Those weren’t chains, it was yarn, it was someones life––Someone–”

At that moment someone came running through the door, a son of Hepestus, Harley came running in out of breath, “Guys–come help!... She’s out of control!” he inhaled a puff from his inhaler.
“Who?” Annabeth asked him, the boy pointed out the door, “Prim…Evans”

Everyone wasted no time to make a run for it, it was obvious where the girl was located, a whole crowd of Demigods and Hunters gathering around shouting and chanting “Fight, Fight, Fight!” to two demigods fighting to the death.

Meg was slashing Prim’s skin from left to right, but at each cut, it healed quickly. Prim didn’t have a weapon on her but rather use her own fist to get through every hit and punch on Meg. “Guys help, I can’t Get her out, the vines keep dying when it touches her!” Pollux says worrying over what was going on.

Hazel tried to step into the garden but stopped when she noticed the golden rope around it, it was a protection shield, no child of the underworld would be able to get pass through it, but then how did Prim get passed? Hazel cussed to herself, having to other choice but to wait for someone to stop the fight for her.
She watched as every camper tried running up to Prim with weapons only for it to backfire and end up with them getting themselves injured.

What shocked Hazel and Nico wasn’t how Prim was healing herself, it was actually how she was handling the fight, it was almost like she’s had years of experienced combat, the rucked sight of terror in her ambered eyes had not one single sight of life in them, she looked ready to end Megs life.

“ARES!!!” Clarisse shouts holding up her spear and charging toward the girl who took no notice to turn around, grabbing the sharp of the blade and with Clarisse’s weight, Prim had thrown her to the other side of the garden.

“Prim, stop it” Percy uncapped his sword and ran towards Prim, she she was quicker to have turned around once again but with her hand now grabbing the blade, she stared right into his eyes, the sword was starting to bend at an arch angle, then snapping. For the first time, Hazel saw the sight of destress appearing onto Percys face, when his sword riptide had broken in two.

He didn’t have a quick reaction to when she threw him onto the ground, Meg McCaffery was trying to catch her breath that entire time, coughing as she choked on her own blood. Prim grabbed her by the throat, and pushed her to the ground, everyone started screaming, trying to tell Prim to stop but all of them were too afraid to step into the garden, of fear they might face her wrath.

“Meg!!!” one of the children of Demeter shouts as they watch the young girl kick her feet and try to push Prims grasp off her throat, slowly Meg stopped moving, she wasn’t dying, she was turning…into a plant.

A mint plant to be exact. That aura of anger Prim had conjured had now disappeared, the sight of her eyes where coming back to normal, or as normal as Hazel thinks it could be. Prim was now realizing what she had done.

Gasping in a panic, Prim screamed, trying to push herself away from the sight of a now mint plant, “I’m sorry!, I’m Sorry!” she was shaking, her words trembled, her hands now clawing tightly around her hair.

“Hey, it’s ok” Thalia tried to move close to Prim.
“Thalia, don’t” Piper tried to grab the huntress, she waved her away.
“G-Get away from me!” Prim stuttered trying to curl up into a ball, “It’s okay–”
“I SAID GET AWAY!”

Hazel didn’t know what it was that Prim had in her hair, but whatever it was, had now been on her hand, and stabbing Thalia right in the eye. Causing her let out the most horific scream, that’s ever been heard in Hazels ears.
“Thalia!” Piper screams running over to grab Prim, only little did she know that her own voice would be taken away. Prim used the same tool to slice Pipers throat.

Piper dropped to the ground next to a screaming Thalia, only that the daughter of Aphrodite wasn’t doing the same, because she couldn’t.

Right behind Prims shadow appeared Nico, and with a quick hit with the butt of his sword, Prim fell uncouncious once again.

Chapter Text

Prim:

I watched as she put pink powder on her cheeks. I didn’t know who she was, but I knew she cared about me very much. Her expression was familiar but I don’t know where.

She smiled beautifully, seeing me admire the way she painted her face. The 7-year-old me was asking her questions over what were the things she was using. She chuckles watching me hold up a red tube and try putting it on my lips, the cap was closed which upset me. Dad would be distraught if I wore this type of stuff she was wearing.

“When you're old enough you could wear this––that is if your father allows it, and maybe he could let me do something about that hair of yours,” she says, her voice so dull when she mentions my hair, her hands lightly touching my new haircut dad gave me the other day. I remembered crying when I saw myself in the mirror because I hated it so much.

She noticed my expression and then went towards the small trunk box by her bed, opening it she pulled out two sun hats, “which one?” she held them up to show me, “that one” I pointed at the green one with flowers, quickly taking it and running up to the mirror to put it on my head, she laughed “You have a crazy sense of fashion, Rosita.”

I went back over to her to see what else she had in the trunk, there was a picture frame that caught my eye, it was of her and another woman smiling, they both looked somewhat alike but due to the age difference, they both had their odds.

Behind them was the house I was at. “Who is this?” I point at the other woman in the picture, She glances at it, and her smile fades just for a second before taking the frame from my hands. “That’s my sister,” she says calmly, “Our grandfather took this picture after her college graduation, we were so proud of her” she whispers the last part.

She quickly fanned her eyes, blinking fast as she collected herself. I didn’t understand why she was upset but it made me feel guilty for asking her.
“Alright, no time to be sad right now, how about we go check on your father, he’s probably awake, maybe we could make breakfast before the boys wake up” She shuts the trunk, taking my hand to guide me out to the living room.

Sure enough my Dad was awake, seeing that he was no longer on the couch, the front door was wide open, making the woman roll her eyes at the breeze it was letting in, Dad looked to be in a deep conversation with the woman’s husband at the porch, he was smoking a cigarette, but quickly put it out when he saw me.
He cleared his throat before telling me to go wait by the motorcycle, not even giving me a chance to say goodbye to the woman or her husband.

My dream shifted just when I was about to turn around and see what the three of them were about to discuss this time but now I found myself at the same room where I had been at the first time I astral projected, with the pool table and a bunch more campers all crammed together inside. They seem to be arguing directly at Percy.

What’s going on?

“This is all your fault! None of this would’ve happened if you just left her to rot in that cell!” Miranda Gardiner shouts at him, “Okay first off it’s not his fault, and second of all she was in solitary confinement” Grover tells her in defense of Percy.

Percy however didn’t react to the yelling everyone was throwing at him, he looked to be in deep thought, refusing to surrender. Annabeth’s hand was touching his shoulder for reassurance.

“I’ve had my fair share of craziness but I’ve never seen someone just…do that–I mean did you see the way she healed herself those two separate times, what kind of magic is that?” Chris Rodriguez says completely annoyed while holding up a fan to his face, preventing him from crying.

“Kyler was right y’all hiding information from us about the girl, she’s not one of us,” a son of Nike says crossing his arms, “Yeah, no wonder Mr. D was threatening us to not ask, he thinks we might want to go on that quest with her, pff, as if we want to end up like Meg,” another camper says pointing at the potted plant that Billie Ng was holding.

My eyes widened, seeing the mint plant, the memory suddenly rising to my head. I did that, I turned Meg into a plant. My breathing felt tightened, they were arguing over what I'd done. Because I killed her and the weird-looking creature Peaches.

I’m a monster.

The door was kicked open, causing everyone to flinch and turn to see who it was, Dionysus and Chiron stepped in, both looking disappointed at the campers in the room. “Alright, that’s enough gossip, Rocky told me what Elote had been trying to accomplish at the library, those who aren’t the cabin counselor, get out!” Dionysus pointed at the door, and the campers all muttered under their breaths while squeezing their way out.

The God slammed the door shut and angrily looked at them, “Who was the idiot that told them about the arrest!” Everyone looked away, refusing to snitch on Georgie. Chiron sighed, “They were going to find out eventually, let’s be grateful we got that out of the way, now we could tell them about the quest”

“Don’t bother, none of us want to go with Evans on that stupid quest” Clarisse says frustrated, she had a cast on her left arm and a neck brace.

“How about we let her go alone, that way we could all be safe here,” an Aphrodite girl says, I think her name is Drew Tanaka?
“You think everyone going to be safe here while she’s on that quest, some random Pantheon is sending their monsters after us, who by the way; are immune to celestial bronze, we were lucky to have killed one of them in the woods,” Grover says with a cracked tone. There was another weird-looking creature next to him. It was a girl who had features of a snake wearing one of those silver jackets I saw earlier around camp. She gave him a weird look, tilting her head.

“Killed? We didn’t kill the Cockatirce, it’sssss asssssleep” she said, strangely adding extra S’s into her sentence. Percy’s eyes widened, “What!” he said to her, “What do you mean asleep? Why didn’t you kill it!?”
“A Cockatrice isssss difficult to kill, not to worry, the potion wasssss dipped with asssssh wood and Ssssssilver arrowsssss, an old family recipe, the creature will be out for the next sssssix days”

“We'll need a bigger batch then,” Lou Ellen says rubbing her hands together, somehow her hands were blistered red but she showed no sign of pain.

“Enough, leave the Pantheon problem to us, she mustn't know this for now,” Chiron says.
“Can we at least know what Pantheon is trying to find her? We’ll swear on the river Styx to not tell her” Travis begs getting upset once more, “No, it’s difficult to understand it” Dionysus says quickly.

Everyone groaned. “But is she from that Pantheon?” Hazel asked, “The Underworld is at war with them right now after finding out about her claim. Persephone wasn’t meant to do it but she must’ve been protecting Hades from causing more of a rift with these Gods”
My heart raced, what are they talking about? What do they mean I'm from another Pantheon? Does this mean I’m not a Greek Demigod? Why is this happening?

“I’m not certain, they have many connections, it’s most likely they sent a different group there” Chiron exhaled a breath of worry, “but, they want her for many reasons–”
“Don’t tell me, one of them is unnatural? Like her arrest or is it related to what she's capable of doing” Nico said, I felt my body tense at the mention, though some of the campers raised an eyebrow confused.

“How is robbing a liquor store unnatural?” one kid says,
“Wait, I thought she set a gas station on fire?” says another one
“No, Reene said it was tax evasion?”

Just hearing them say this confused me, What the fuck!?

Chiron looked at all of them, Dionysus rolled his eyes hearing this, “these kids” he muttered. “If she had done any of that, then that would be the least of everyone's worries, but no, it’s about her knowing something, some kind of valuable information that could be helpful for the rest of Olympus.”

My chest tightens, at what the God said, I have valuable information? That’s impossible, how could I know something with no recollection of it, and what kind of information would it even be if I did?

I noticed everyone had stayed silent, hearing what Dionysus said. “Is this why you want her to regain her memories naturally? To then tell you what it is?” Rachel squeezed her hands anxiously together. When she said that it made me realize why Chiron was constantly concerned about needing to know what my memories were, is this also what Dionysus thought of when he trained me?

“Let me guess, we’re going to get involved in the war right after this comes out?” Percy’s voice sounded irritated with hate. Both men stayed silent.

My thoughts rolled through several stages of emotions, a war? Like the card game or the killing kind? I can’t stomach the fact that I’m causing these people to talk about this, was this what the Voice was warning me about? Is this the betrayal they’re planning on doing to me?

“What information does she know?” Annabeth says, “Hold up, can we at least know how serious this is? Like what exactly is the girl capable of?” Clarisse interrupted.
“Yeah, what did she do to be sent to prison?” the guy from the iris cabin, Butch, says crossing his arms.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know what she did?” Nico choked up a sob, why was he starting to cry? Oh gods, he knows!
“No––do tell us,” Drew says in the same tone I heard Piper speak when she and Leo got me out of prison. She was Charm Speaking.

“Fine I’ll tell you what she did,” Percy pushed Nico aside, annoyed at Drew's attempt, he looked at the campers hoping they’d tell him not to, but no one stopped him, I even stepped close to hear what I did. He took a deep breath, “She–”

“Oh so it was you who astral projected that night”
I let out a scream hearing someone speaking right next to me, I ended up stumbling back from the room, passing over someone's body and hitting the ground. The sight of this boy, Holy shit––he looked terrible! Much worse than the last time I saw him in that dream.

“Are you okay?” Clovis asked me, I blinked, feeling a little taken aback when getting up, “Yeah, I’m fine” I tried not to look weirded out by his presence, he was pale as a ghost, his hair was a mess and the dark under his eyes had much more bagging under them.
Wait, how is he in my dream?
“Son of Hypnos duh” He shrugs somehow as he reads my expression, “Which reminds me, I gotta thank you for putting me to sleep, it feels great to be back in the dream realm, though this does I sense something…strange, the airs colder and I can’t find my father around here” he looked at concerned.

“Uh–I–I don’t know exactly how I did it, I–I” I thought for a second, remembering how it was during the seizure the Voice gave me. Clovis had touched me when I was in and out of consciousness.

“Earth to Peppermint York!?” he snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I reacted.
“Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts” I looked down at my dirty shoes as I spoke to him. He shutters, “Lost in thoughts, huh–haven’t felt like that in a while, it’s kind of like sleep, you become unaware of your thoughts, and the more you go through that the more you get stuck into your mind and mislead yourself mentally”

The way he said it, had me assuming for a second that he knew about my memory loss, I looked back and saw that he was now eating a candy bar, don’t know where that came from. “Were you assuming something about me?” I asked,
“Uh-no” he lied, “okay maybe, but that’s because judging by your aura, you have gaps in your memories”
“Gaps?”
“Like puzzle pieces, only that you're forcing certain parts into it even if they don’t fit” he hits his fist onto the palm of his hand as an example.

“I don’t feel like I’m forcing it” I tell him, worried over what he knows, “Well I’m only saying what I sense girl, I’m surprised you are thinking straight, to Hades!–That’s even a blessing you're able to sleep, I feel bad for Kyler, Adaline, and Fabian.”
“What do you mean? Shouldn’t they always be sleeping?” Clovis shakes his head, “Haven’t slept in over a month, mainly a lot has been hitting the fan for us, Hecate kids loss of magic, then there's the mood swing for the Hermes kids” he snorts small laughter at the last part, “and finally Nico and Hazel, it’s affecting them the worst by what I can see, I’ll have to visit them the next time the fall asleep” he wiped the chocolate from his mouth, I nearly wanted to gag at the scent of mint now coming from the candy.

I did remember one of the Dionysus kids mentioning it once when things were a little odd at Camp but I didn’t expect it to be a big deal, then again, I thought about how the Stoll brothers were acting out earlier.

“Maybe it’s going to start affecting you too, given we’re all in some way affected by the underworld deities”
“Why would I be affected?” I asked, somehow feeling shaky in my voice, “Your Persephone’s daughter, she's the queen of the dead, which yeah, came as a shocker to all of us, I owe Isaiah 30 bucks now thank you very much, ” he tried to roll his eyes but ended up covering his mouth to yawn.

“She isn’t my mother,” I tell him, looking back at the campers, they didn’t have the same curious expression I last saw them in, it looked like Percy had just finished telling them what I did.
And I missed it.

“Oh. My. Gods!” Katie screamed, the color looked to be drained from out of her body, nearly fainting, “How did she–” the Roman camper, Frank, clenched his stomach, “I think I’m gonna be sick” he quickly ran out the door, followed by two other campers, “I Sssssecond quessssstion sssssaving that girl” the snake girl says shivering,
“Eh, well that explains a lot,” Pollux shrugs bluntly.

“At least, I’m glad my siblings didn’t hear it” Clovis says proudly, “they might have tried to trigger you into doing it again, just so they could touch you and fall asleep” I flinched at the thought of more people who look like him would purposely touch me, that can’t happen.
“What do you mean by trigger?” I asked, he finished his candy bar and threw the wrapper behind him where it disappeared, “Oh right, Mr. D told us to not ask you about your time in prison because it could trigger you into a panic, and mess up your recovery, I thought he meant mental recovery but after seeing this…” he pointed at the meeting, “I think he meant your magic recovery…or is it your memories?”

I looked over at where Chiron and Dionysus were now talking to Percy, Annabeth, Rachel, Nico, and Hazel in a huddled circle. Dionysus looked over to my direction somehow knowing I was there. “Shit he spotted us” Clovis took a few steps back when the God said, “She’s about to wake up.”

And somehow he was right, the dream was starting to blur, I felt my body go numb, my hands tightening badly. “Where did you guys put her?” I started to hear Dionysus' voice become clearer. Once my eyes opened, I was somewhere dark that smelled like bleach and rubber, Why the fuck am I here?

“She’s in the storage closet” Clarisse's voice was also clear, the sound of something knocking. I tried to speak but something was covering my mouth, I couldn’t move my arms or hands as they were behind my back. Did these assholes tie me up like a hostage?

Why would they do that? How could they do that to me? I tried to shift myself around with whatever movement I had in my legs, but that only made me slide down on the floor making me lay there like a worm. Seriously, what kind of knot is this?
My head began to hurt, everything started to hurt, and I needed to get out of these.

I have to get out of this, I can’t be tied up. They can’t do this!

I could still hear the conversation while trying to break through the ropes on my hands. “So what are we going to do about her quest? We don’t even know what it’s about?”
“We?” Annabeth questioned Percy’s words, “Grover and I are going on that quest with her, It was my idea, we brought her to this camp in the first place, now we should be responsible for this”
“Uh, absolutely not seaweed brain, you can’t just decide to do this on your own, I’m going too”
“No–”

“Guys wouldn’t it be better if she picked instead, that's the rule here,” Pollux said, breaking the couple's argument. “Accept the quest” the voice crept up to me, just when I managed to squeeze my hand out of the rope I felt goosebumps form my skin, “No,” I say in my head.
“This is your chance to escape” The voice was right, I could take this chance and go, never come back, but I’m still going to need to pick who to go with, or else they wouldn’t let me go alone.

“I’m going on that quest, no one holding me back on this”
“Percy no–”
“Nico don’t even think about coming, she might be your stepsister but you and Hazel could be put into much more danger if you come along”
“You don’t even have a sword anymore!”
“Oh no, it’s almost like I don’t have water powers to defend myself,” Percy told him sarcastically.

“Okay enough, you both fighting like children, Peter your not going with her, she will get to pick on her own who to take and you Di Angelo, and Levesque might be the last people she would want, although that would be a nice sibling bond for the three of you––”
“She’s not our sister!” I heard both siblings shout in unison, making me flinch when I ripped the tape off my mouth, realizing I had already freed myself.

“I accept!” I shout through the closet door, kicking it open, then regretting it when I fail causing my leg to cramp. Clarisse opened the door and light began to hit my face, causing me to squint. I stumbled into the room, nearly falling again but held myself up by the pool table. “I accept the quest!”

Everyone stayed quiet, maybe because I was awake, or because I untied myself, either way, I just said that I accepted the quest, despite having no idea what it was.

“Miss Evans, are you sure–”
“Yes I accept it, I’ll take whatever the quest is, but I’m doing it alone,” I say trying to be as calm as I can.

“That is not possible, it’s mandatory for a demigod to bring two others for the quest” Chiron tried to state, “But Hazel said I’m from a different Pantheon which means I’m not a demigod” I point at the roman girl, “She asked if you were, which is different” Dionysus mentioned quickly,
“Same shit” I fired back.

“Miss Evans, it’s not common for one to go alone, you could die–”
“I’ll take the risk”
“Not a chance!” Percy stepped forward, he had a change of emotion, there wasn’t anger on him, despite me being the one who broke his weapon, he looked like he was pushing that thought away and wanted to just focus on right now. “You're going to pick right here, right now! The best candidates are in this room, so choose well” He crosses his arms.

I remembered the look of hatred I had when I looked into his eyes as I broke that sword, it was so simple and easy, and yet now that I’m seeing Percy’s eyes again, all I can feel is the need to apologize.
What are the chances that I could get away from his sight and escape from the quest? I could finally run away and find my father, I can do that.

“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth, “You and Annabeth.”

~*~

My father never understood why I liked the color fuchsia, and neither did I. It's a color often mistaken for hot pink, the closest I can compare it to now is maybe pomegranate skin? Which now makes a lot more sense.
Dad would call it my mystery color because it was never easy to find during a game of eye spy.

Now here I stood in front of the split cabin of Hades and Persephone, everyone still having their eyes on me with questions as to why I haven’t stepped foot in there yet now that it’s finished, thanks to Malcolm from the Athena cabin who came through the door at the game room to announce it. Chiron gave him a nod and told Pollux to take me there.

He was standing a few steps away next to me while I stared at the cabin. This felt wrong––I shouldn’t have this. It’s not mine, it’s not…me.

“You’ll love it, we even added a mini fridge in there,” Gavin says, taking me out of my thoughts, Uva added in with excitement “The satin sheets were my idea by the way,” I just gave a small nod at them before taking my first steps to the door.

The inside looked a lot different than it was on the outside, what caught my attention besides how cold it was, was the Italian flag on the wall, followed by a painting of a girl who looked a lot like Nico, she was smiling as though she was from the olden years.

There was a hall with a door on the left side of the cabin which showed the bright Fuschia color calling for me to go there, so I made my way to it. A room freshly painted and built, it was like I entered into a whole new place, Besides the darkness the other side showed, here it was warm, bright, and colorful, vines were on the ceiling, and it smelled like sweet berries and nature, two out of the three of my favorite scents. The bed was a twin size with silk pillowcases. The whole place looked so…beautiful.

I shouldn’t complain, it’s pretty but, coming from someone whose only room she ever had was a solitary cell, this was beyond my expectations. I took my time to look around the whole room, there was a bathroom in it––well at least there was that. A glass table was in the corner with a statue of a woman there, a pink candle already lit with crystals and flowers around it drew most of my attention, studying the face of the statue there, it was Persephone. My supposed mother.

Well clearly not, I have to remind myself she is not my mother, just a goddess who claimed me for whatever stupid reason I couldn’t care less of. I let out a sigh, seeing more of the room, there was a large dresser with a closet attached to it. There was no curiosity but I opened it to see if the campers wasted their time to put any clothes in there besides a repeat of camp shirts and blue jeans.

I was almost right, there were two extra orange shirts with a few gray, red, and brown plaid short button-up shirts with white t-shirts next to them, and the pants were either black or dark gray. I didn’t think this would be what I’d expect to be dressed like but right before I closed the closet door, I suddenly felt my heart jump, seeing something familiar hanging up at the end that was untouched––it couldn’t be.
My breathing hitched, when I reached to grab it, crying when the feeling of leather touched my hands.
This is my fathers' motorcycle jacket.

How did it get here? Who brought it here? So many questions ran through my head as I hugged the jacket tightly to my chest, I inhaled the scent of sage, pine, and cigarettes filling my nose. It still smells like him.
“Dad” I whispered, calming myself, I can’t cry right now, “I’m going to find you––I promise” I wiped the tears from my face, taking one last look at the jacket then putting it on, it was a little big on me but I could care less.

I took a look at the mirror, noticing the white stitch on the upper arm, my finger traced through it trying to remember why this was there, nothing came to mind. I checked the pockets too, to see if there was anything in it he had, there was something on the left, it was small and square. When I pulled it out I realized it was his lighter, a vintage kind in silver, with an engraved word in Latin he once told me meant “Balance.”

I opened it seeing the classic sight of the color flame he would say was unique to have.

There wasn’t much to put in the duffle bag I found, Chiron said to pack but never told me what to get, I put what could find in the room, the extra pair of clothes (to which I also decided to change into as well), toilet paper, and a small first aid kit bag that was in the bathroom, I even took what Gavin left me in the mini-fridge, which still left the room in the duffle.

Uva whistled when I stepped back outside, seeing that they were the only ones waiting for me outside, “Nice jacket.”
I gave a shrug seeing them studying the patches, “Dang Pol’s, you did good at picking her outfit, Biker girl suits her aesthetic” Gavin said to Pollux with a grin, “got everything?” Pollux asked me, seeing that I felt uncomfortable over the compliment, “I don’t have a weapon,” I told them.

“Ah right, we took your belt to be repaired at the Hephaestus cabin, after you fell from that tree with Nico and Hazel, I think Leo should’ve fixed it by now.” Gavin said. The three of them took me to see the Hephaestus cabin, it was somehow empty with only one machine running on its own.

“Leo!” Uva shouts the sound of something falling crept behind us, “yeah?” The guy appeared out of thin air, making me scream and hit my back against the wall. “D-Did you just––you were invisible?” I breathed from the fright.
“Don’t do that–Gods you really should stop using that” Pollux pointed at the weird torche-looking thing Leo had in his hand.

“Sorry, it was the only way I could check on Piper in the infirmary” he sighed looking away from me. The guilt was coming towards me with that memory.
“How is she? How’s Thalia?”
There was silence for a few seconds, “Pranjal couldn’t save her eye, and Piper…Will’s trying his best, but chances are–she might not speak again” he held back a sob. He looked at me upset but tried to put a bright attitude up. “Anyways, what are you guys doing here?”
I felt myself go cold, I had nearly killed two more campers, they were severely injured and it was my fault.

“I need my belt, is it fixed?” I said quickly and simply so he wouldn’t look at me, he went over to the small table by the machine and pulled out the white and black color belt, “Here, good as new, I even added an extra pocket in case you wanted to put something in it.” He handed me it, and sure enough, there was a small pocket on the side. I had this weird feeling he meant the toothbrush shiv I made which is now long gone, probably still embedded into Piper's throat.
“Thanks,” I told him quietly before walking out, and speed walking towards the big house trying to hold back tears but I failed.

“Hey don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s alright” Gavin assured, trying to catch his breath from following me, Uva followed along, handing me a tiger print handkerchief.
“I don’t understand how can you guys be alright being near me when everyone else is terrified, I’m a prisoner, who must’ve done terrible things, and I have no memory of it, I killed Meg and that weird peach thing, Georgie hates me––and–and to top it off Thalia and Piper–” I broke down, sitting on the steps as I let everything I’ve been holding back.

“I’m a monster,” I tell them, “Prim” Pollux said, “It’s not your fault”
“Pollux is right-–you have no idea how ridiculous it might be but you are not a bad person, trust us, Children of Dionysus can see right through people's flaws” Uva hovered her hand over my shoulder to console me but that just led me to flinch and jerk back at the sight of her doing it.

The potted plants behind me started to die, upsetting me at most when I tried to move away again, my breathing grew heavy causing more of my crying to worsen. “That’s a panic attack–Okay–Prim, Prim–breathe” I don’t know which one of them said it but my hands were on my head, trying to gasp for air, not being able to say anything but just cry.

“Breathe Beta, it’s alright” I heard my father's voice tell me, “I’m right here, you're safe my flower” My hands moved from my head to my torso hugging myself tighter, feeling the warmth of the jacket. I could suddenly breathe again, my consciousness was back.

I could see Uva fanning me with a folding fan and Pollux trying to get me to count back from one hundred, “She’s back!” Gavin cheers, “Hey look at that” he points back at the plants, seeing them bloom back to life. Pollux looked like he suddenly had a bright idea, “Gav, Uva, go to the cabin and find that thing” he tells them, “what thing?”
“The thing” he gave them a look which indicated to them to understand, Uva’s eyes widened, “really?” They both had a smile on their faces before running off.
“What’s the thing?” I asked, sitting there with my knees to my chest still processing what just happened.

“You’ll see,” he says, taking a few steps away from me so I could feel comfortable, “trust the process Prim” he made a vine of grapes appear from the ground and then handed them to me. “I think I found a shortcut on how you can control your powers” My eyes widened, is he serious? After the shit, I pulled at the strawberry field? Fuck no!

The grapes started to rot in my hands as my breathing began to form a panic in my chest, “Don’t drop them” he said, putting his hands up to assure me, but I still felt frightened. “Think of something happy, anything” I wasn’t sure to trust him, he and his siblings have been nothing but good to me, they can see right through me. I wonder if they could also see what I’m planning once I leave this place, this could also be my last time seeing them.

Just this once I’m going to trust him, I closed my eyes and thought about one of my favorite memories with my father, the times we’d stop by a gas station and get ourselves Slurpees. The way he and I would stick our tongues out to see how the ice colored them.
“You look like Kali Ma with your red tongue, she had the bravery of collecting the blood of Raktabija’s head with her tongue so that he wouldn’t duplicate once he hits the ground ” Dad laughs, “Eww blood” I imitated myself throwing up, “I’m getting green next time” I pout, “But you hate green sour apples” he poked my nose at which I try to bite “then blue” he shakes his head with a chuckle, “No beta, the blue ones mine” he proceeded to stick his tongue out to show me.

Seeing that memory made me smile while my eyes were still closed, I opened them back seeing not just the grapes coming back to life, but the vines growing even longer and duplicating even more.

“Ay Dios mio!” Gavin gasped, he and Uva watched as it happened as they came back. “The plants react to your emotion,” Pollux tells me, grabbing the grapes from my hands, I stood up seeing the way it grew. It felt unbelievable, that couldn’t have been me, could it?

“Here, we want you to have this” Uva hands Pollux something metal, and he gives it to me, which catches me by surprise. It was a hand shovel.
Of course, I wasn’t expecting something cool. Maybe they would’ve given me a dagger or even a gun, though I don’t think I would’ve accepted it well after that deer flashback.

“It wasn’t a deer” The voice tells me, I choose to ignore it.

“It was Castors” Pollux took a deep breath, “But I think you should have it, now that you know how to control your powers a bit better”
“I can’t accept this,” no really I can’t, what am I supposed to even do with this?
I tried to hand it back but they all took a step away from me, “Nope, it’s yours now, you deserve it”
“But–”
“Trust us Prim, we know it’s too soon, but you are like a sister to us, and we want you to know that”
There was a sting aching in my stomach, do they mean it?

“Close enough” The four of us flinched when hearing Dionysus behind us, he looked displeased at the sight of me when he saw the vines on the ground, “Perrie and Annabell are waiting out back, come on now Narcissa” he motioned his head to follow him. I looked back at the three of them giving me a comforting smile, “Can you tell Georgie I said goodbye, and that I’m sorry” I exhaled seeing them nod, “Of course”
“This isn’t goodbye though, we’ll see you later”
“Yeah, good luck hun, we’ll be right here welcoming you back with flower crowns and all the Dr. Pepper you want. Oh–wait, I don't even know what your favorite flower is for the flower crown!?” Uva panicked, I gave her a small smile “It’s–”

“Hyacinth!” Dionysus shouts, “Get moving!”

I hurried after him, he wasn’t that far but that might be because I jogged over making my steps a lot bigger. The back of the big house had multiple vehicles parked around. I spotted Percy and Annabeth near a white van with the logo of a strawberry, this brought me right back to the day I was rescued and thrown in one of these. I tried to shake that thought off.

Behind them I noticed Nico and Hazel were there holding up a giant paper rolled up, “Alright you can tell her now” Dionysus tells them. The four looked at each other before looking at me, Annabeth cleared her throat, “Prim, you wouldn’t happen to know what this is, right?” She rolled out the paper, and everyone each held a corner, revealing a large map of the country with a marker traced over from Maine to Georgia. I raised an eyebrow studying it, it was obvious what it was, the question was why are they showing me this?

“The Appalachian Mountains?” I said hoping that was correct. “At least she knows her Geography” Percy muttered under his breath, earning a punch in the arm by Hazel. “Why?” I asked.
“Oh no worries, we just need to make a quick stop somewhere before we make our way there” Annabeth tried to hide the worry on her face before opening the back door of the van where Argus, the guy with a million eyeballs all over his body, was at the driver's seat waiting for us. “Come on, let’s get going,” Annabeth says pushing everyone in, it took me by surprise that Nico and Hazel were coming as well.

“Why are they here?” I whispered hoping both siblings didn't hear me, they did.
“They’re going to help us with something before we go on the quest,” Percy says in a normal tone, so much for whispering.

We rode in silence at the back of the van floor, there weren’t any windows in the van so I couldn’t see where we were going, Argus played on the radio an upbeat song to lighten the gray mood, though I think it was broken since it kept repeating the same lyrics, “uptown funk you up, Uptown Funk you up” it almost made me want to rip the stitch from my sleeve out, Good hell! Why couldn’t it be Nirvana or an AC/DC song I could fall asleep to.

The drive took well over 25 upbeat songs that didn’t lift anyone's mood, by the time I felt the van park somewhere with sounds, “We’re here” Annabeth said looking up from the front window, Nico and Hazel quickly reached over into Annabeth’s bookbag and pulled out…hair?

“Here put this on” She handed one to me, and I gave her a weird look, seeing the other two put it on, immediately changing their faces.
“It’s to hide your identity, you're wanted all over the country, you do know that, right?”
Percy reminded me, I looked down at the wig, having no idea how to put it on, other than the movies I’ve seen, I tried to put it on top of my head before Annabeth had to help me out. Percy handed me a pair of sunglasses to put on once he opened the door.

The sight of the place we were in was a complete shock, I’ve only seen this place in movies, “What are we doing here?” I asked seeing The New York Public Library.

Percy looked back at me as he shut the door once Nico stepped out of the van, “We are going to get your memories back.”

Chapter Text

Rachel:
As Camp Half Blood's Oracle, Rachel has had her fair share of experiencing the downfall and upbringings of prophecies given to her by the spirit of Delphi.

Ella wasn’t blessed with anything like that, but she does have good memory storage in her harpy brain. Even if she had questioned Rachel at most about what happened to this Harpy that made her go through this hectic state, she couldn’t even get Ella to take a breather, at most, it took a whole lot of pleading to even get her to take a nap last night.

Now she watches as Ella turns through multiple pages of every book she could get her hands on, scanning through each page of ‘Spiritual practices’ to ‘Ancient worship work’ and even old scriptures trying to figure out the translation.
Chiron was not much of a help, considering how after the incident with Prim and her taking on a quest they still had no actual clue as to what it would be about. She could tell that he had something to say about all this.

“You worry me when you make that face” Rachel finally tells the Centaur, Ella stops scanning through a textbook and looks up as well. Chiron slowly closed his eyes, hoping he didn’t give too much away. “It’s not that we didn’t want to put any of the demigods in danger, Rachel” he opens his eyes, and a feeling of regret glimpsed its way for just a second.

“But I must apologize for what it has come to for Miss Evans she… can be a lot to handle, I’ve been hoping to see signs of her truth but it only looks to be visible when she’s–” He stopped himself when the sound of running footsteps came bursting through the door, a hurried Percy and Annabeth had run over to the library holding their packed bags.
Both shared a look of being overwhelmed, Annabeth spoke holding up a white envelope “Mangus wrote back.”
It came clear to Rachel that Annabeth's cousin Magnus, a demigod from the Norse realm who Rachel’s only heard about a handful of times, had written back. The three of them hurried toward them to see the envelope which had three folded papers in it meaning Magnus must’ve had a lot to say about whatever Annabeth had written;

Annabeth,
Thank Odin you know about this as well, when it first came out the entire 9 worlds were put on lockdown, and I had no way of communicating outside of Valhalla. They’ve since loosened some restrictions a few days ago, which was a relief. No offense to Jack for keeping me company but you try being stuck in a room with him singing nothing but One Direction songs on repeat. Thankfully Blitzen and Hearthstone kept charge of the Chase Space while Alex, Jack, and I tried several ways to break out of there. You’d be surprised to know where the laundry shoot now takes you.
I messaged Sam to find more information about what's been going on, apparently from what the grapevines said, ‘The enemies are returning to find what’s theirs’. Not sure what that means but they took it a lot more seriously than the Ragnarok drill we had last month, (don’t ask).
My dad didn’t leave much information in the dream I had the other night. Just what the Prophecy was, and not trust the old Hyghest (Whoever that is). Apparently from what Jack told me it’s not a pretty story, but to keep it short (because it’s short) the Norse have located themselves by an inch of one of the most dangerous places in the world thinking it wouldn’t cause trouble with them for this certain pantheon, but guess what–it did!––His words, not mine.

Much is to be said but for now, I’ll leave you with what the Prophecy was;
“Travel down through where hills bend, avenge the lores of where sound ends and seek out by the voice that was never listened. Find the Gemini to meet the flowers at the place where one's creation comes from the dead. Behold that point and find where she lies in shields, told to travel west for a quest to unfold and you will only be able to hold on to the one who must pick them is the one that glistens.”

Rachel had to reread that several times in case her tiredness was messing with her, she didn’t understand what it meant. Several types of Prophecies tend to mix up when told. Clearly, Magnus had only sent the Prophecy that was meant for the quest, not the entirety of what was going on. She wasn’t going to argue about it, a note is a note and not something to stress over. She was going to have to ask the spirit of Delphi about it when she had the chance.

The last paragraph gave her some breathing, despite the rest of the news Annabeth’s cousin brought up.

“I’m taking the wild guess that this means there is something important that everyone suddenly wants, already I’ve seen several einherjar who are plotting how they are going to go there and find this Gemini thing. Jack is not saying much but I have a feeling he knows what it is. I’ll have Alex pry it open from him once we get out of here. Hopefully whatever is happening can be solved, please tell me that it will.
Tell Percy I said Hello.

Magnus
P.S: Alex says hey
P.P.S: Jack says hey too

“That’s it?” Ella questioned taking the papers away from Annabeth’s hands to reread them, she could tell that the girl was much more confused than she was.
It had only been a few hours since Ella woke up, somehow she found out about everything that had been going on with Prim, and clearly, it took a toll on her already panicked state.

“There is more, Ella knows there is more, this is only another piece of the prophecy–But oh this will have to do” Ella ran over to the board where she kept notes about the translation in both Nico’s bible and in Rachel's journal. She took a thumbtack and stuck the letter onto the wall. Taking a few steps back to admire the work Ella then cleared her throat.

“Travel down through where hills bend?... That’s the Appalachian mountains” She then grabbed a marker and started tracing down the map of the United States from Maine to Georgia.

“What?” Percy questioned through confusion, “Hold up–Chiron” he looked at the centaur who seems to be in a flashback, “Whatever this Prophecy is, it has to do with finding something in those mountains, right?”

Rachel had a flash of green light peeking through her eyes, a quick use of power to put all the pieces together, remembering what the past (almost) 24 hours of information she’d gathered. Thinking back to Nico and Hazel mentioning something called the Gemini, then about Mr. D saying how Prim knew valuable information about something.

“Does Prim know where this Gemini is?” She didn’t realize how loud she said it until she saw each of them flinch, “Not–exactly” Chiron sighed. “I think we’re missing the bigger picture here, what exactly is this Gemini thing that needs to be found? And why is it so important for so many other Pantheons to go searching for it?” Annabeth cleared through the conversation.

“Something that was never supposed to be found, if found––it could be helpful and so dangerous if not held by its carrier” Ella mutters the last part while chewing on the eraser of the pencil she was now holding, suddenly the pupils of her eyes dilated she cracked a wide smile, which made Rachel, Annabeth, Percy, and Chiron step back, seeing this new side of the Harpy.

“Ella?” Rachel tried to say in a soft tone, Ella spoke–but not in her voice the Harpies eyes began to glow a bright shade of orange, shadowing her skin to look a sickly pale color; “Our spirits, our soul's true nature falls to the hands of the carrier! Find her! Find what belongs to our aligned new blood!”

The light in Ella’s eyes dimmed, she was now back to a normal state only half conscious “Ella!” Rachel and Percy ran up to her before she hit the floor. “Wake up, Wake up!” Rachel gently tapped Ella on the cheek, causing her to stir and open her eyes. “Ella must not fall asleep until the translation is complete” she quickly says getting up and picking up a book.

“What the Hecate?” a new voice says entering the room, Hazel and Nico were by the door. By some chance, they must've seen what just happened.

“Something new,” Rachel tells them. Secretly making a mental note to get a moment alone to ask Ella about what just came up.
Annabeth gave them the update on what they’ve all uncovered along with Magnus’ letter. Nico looked like he had a bit of weight lifted off his shoulders, and so did Hazel.

“So whatever this is that Prim needs to find, will it be helpful with the war?” Nico asked, “I don’t seem to understand how important it is, what do these New Bloods ones want to do with it?” Percy was brought up.
“Who even are they?” Hazel dug the question into a spiral, giving them all the chance to look at Chiron in sync.

“I’m not the one who should explain this” he mutters to himself, he glanced behind him where the door was, somehow hoping someone could interrupt this conversation. He gave a sharp breath, “There are two sides to every worship, the given and the hidden, over the years people have separated their beliefs differently, some taking sides and some mixing it as one thing on top of another, I don’t know what this was that possessed Ella, but it must be one of the many who are coming to find the Gemini”

Rachel soaked the information through her head, she remembered reading something similar to this before although it had another name to it, Occultism. She never seemed anything further to it, it was a path to many sections she didn’t have time to discover, and now she might have to give it another check.

She glanced at Chiron who showed only a long reaction at the cards, another flashback perhaps coming back to him, “I do suggest you gather as much information as you can for this quest, the chances of Miss Evans finding the Gemini isn’t low but only if her memories do return”

“Well, what if Prim can’t regain her memories, what if we’re too late and someone else found the Gemini? Do you know how long this could take? The Appalachian Trail can take up from 7 to 9 months of travel, we only have 2 weeks!” Annabeth brought up, that she was right.

Without missing a beat, Hazel mutters “The library.” Everyone looked towards her, “The New York Public Library, they could probably help-” she took a second to look over at the window, by the distance was a very short view of cabin 13 with the renovations finished up, a small figure was coming out of the door wearing a large leather jacket and talking to three of the Dionysus kids.

Hazel went on about what she remembered seeing at the library, although Annabeth chimed in on how she had been inside the New York Library before a few times, mostly to admire the way it was built and not once did she see anything un-mortal there. However when Rachel started to explain how she took Nico and Hazel into a different route that’s unknown to the human eye they most likely entered the other side of the mortal view, aka– unmist the path.

“I’ve had my fair share of outer realms colliding in one place. It’s not rare for that to happen, but it’s not rare that it'll appear again.” Chiron says to her amused, “What I’m trying to say is the Glode did mention Prim’s been to this library before”
“She has?” Percy raised an eyebrow.

“A few years back, yes–my point is what if you guys take her there and they could maybe help her get her memories back? We saw a room called ‘The Thoughts Department’ maybe it could do something to help her” Hazel stated something that Rachel hadn’t really come close to thinking of, maybe it could work.

“There’s only one problem,” Rachel said, putting a hand on her side where a dried stain of blood was there, the Spirit of Delphi had been helpful enough to heal her from it when she was at the park.

“Akila, the man we ran into, he might still want us killed after finding out a portion of this Prophecy. It wouldn’t be a good idea for me to go back there with you guys, but let me draw a map of it, that way you could find it while I can still help Ella with the translation here” She grabbed the Appalachian map from the wall and drew on the back of it. Ella didn’t flinch at the sight of her board being ruined.

“We should probably accompany you guys there, just in case–you know,” Nico said, unaware of how awkward he made the silence, “Prim would want to run away” he finally said, “You think she would run away?” Percy asked him.
“No, I know she will–I was like that too once” Nico reminded him.

Rachel knew he was right, there was that chance Prim would escape, “Hang on guys” she handed Annabeth the map then walked towards the nearby table and slid the pile of books that were on it to the floor, she pulled out the Tarot deck from her pocket and began to shuffle them.

“What are you doing?” Percy asked but was quickly shushed by Annabeth. The thought crossed Rachel's mind for a second as the spirit of Delphi’s presence overcame her in a thin layer only she was familiar with when she knew the cards were speaking the truth. The Spirit wanted to give a message in a specific spread, Rachel put the stack down and pulled out the first card.

It was the Page of Cups, only reversed, she placed the card on one side and pulled out the next six cards.

For each one her eyes grew wider and wider, “Rachel, Rachel?” Nico shook her shoulder, at which she flinched and looked up at all six of them, “I think I have the quest” she whispered, seeing the spread in its order.
6 of wands, a reversed 6 of cups, 5 of cups reversed, The Tower, The Queen of Wands, and the 6 of Pentacles reversed.

“Don’t judge me on this but, I think it’s telling me that Prim will be getting her memories back during this quest”
“During? Nope, nope, it has to be before, the memories will guide her to the trail that lies in shields” Ella pushed Rachel to the side and started shuffling all the cards together in a messy pile three other cards came out, The Chariot, the Fool, and the Hierophant.

“That's the same pile that came out earlier, that's the quest confirmation?” Hazel mentioned pointing at it Rachel gulped at the sight of the cards “It’s not entirely” she finally admitted, “It’s the gods responsible for this”
“What!” they all say in unison.
“It could also explain why Apollo is tied up right now in Olympus” She tapped the card with the Chariot. “What did he do?” Nico says looking worried, Rachel shakes her head, “I can’t be sure entirely but…he must’ve been part of it, there are two other gods who aren’t taking the blame, yet” she whispered the last word.
“Who are the other two?” Hazel picked up the two cards, “Hermes?” Nico took The Fool card out from Hazel's hand, “It might be him, Zeus got mad at him for something that happened in my dream, it was about a letter”
Rachel closed her eyes for a second, and a cold chill ran through her body, “I don’t think so, I’m not getting the sense that it’s him”
“Well, then what about the Hierophant?” Rachel shakes her head again, reaching to pick up another card only to see once more The Page of Cups reversed.

She knew this card signified Prim for some sort, remembering how she had tried her best to find every single piece of information she could about the girl. Tracing back from her arrest to seeing nothing in a safe section of the dark web to then setting her laptop on fire for a bug that was unnecessarily downloaded. She still couldn’t find much, even Prim’s father, Maxton Evans had no record of even existing.

Her perspective of the girl changed when she met her for the first time, it wasn’t a pleasant moment when she saw a side of Prim that she never knew was possible to see in a demigod. Rachel had even told Nico in ancient Greek, “Hear my words clearly Nico, whatever you do, don’t ever look at her in the eyes when she’s mad”

It was hard for her to ever bring up, there was also that touch feeling that night when she and Piper came to physical contact with her, they didn’t just see this girl's anger, they both saw something. Something from Prim’s memories that she was hiding from everyone, perhaps even herself.
Despite all of that, Rachel couldn’t come to the acceptance of this girl being anything other than a Greek demigod, she is a demigod.

She shuffled the cards one last time. They all silently watched as three cards flew out, Rachel quickly flipped them over inspecting the three, the question in her head that was aching to know. Seeing the cards were The Page of Cups, The Tower, and the High Priestess.
She quickly gave a sigh of relief.

“What does that mean?” Annabeth tried to get a closer look but Rachel picked them up and started shuffling the cards once more, “Confirmation, nothing bad, at least not yet” she tells them.

***
Annabeth:
By the end, Rachel had given all the information she could to Annabeth, the map noted that if Prim gets her memories back from the library, then this would be the next place they needed to bring her to. Ella only blurted out a small sentence ‘Start from Maine then the girl will do the rest’ though still without a context or even a reason as to why.

She questioned how they’d all come up with the plot without including Prim in all this, though by what Nico said a moment ago, he could be right.
Prim did not once ask what this quest was even about, didn’t ask what they were discussing before accepting. It was obvious the girl was planning to escape from all this.

Though how far could she even get to? From what’s already been whispered through the camp, Prim is very much wanted for her crime. Dead or Alive.

They’ve set their plan by getting a few enchanted wigs from the Hecate cabin, Lou Ellen warned them that the magic will fade in four hours, “I could’ve done longer but Will warned me that this would only get worse if I did anymore magic” she showed Annabeth her hands and arms covered in Eczema relieved cream, out of the other Hecate kids she was the only one who had them worse than her siblings.

Annabeth thanked her and left the cabin, Lavinia and Frank were having a quick discussion with Nico, Hazel, and Percy right outside the door. From what it looked like it seems that the siblings were giving Frank the news about what’s about to happen.

“Macaria did say to prepare the camps, It’ll be better for you to bring the romans back to gather more demigods” Nico explained, “As many as you can, I’ll have Arion bring me back once we help with this part of the quest, you both should start gathering everyone to the greyhounds,” Hazel tells Frank assuring him everything will be alright.

Behind the two romans the new kid who Annabeth met a while back walked over to them, “Teddy, bad news my spawn, we have to tell everyone to start packing up, we got a war to prepare” Lavinia tells the kid with a pat on the back, “Aw man, really?” The demigod did not look too happy to hear that.

“We should start heading out now while it’s still early,” Annabeth tells the three motioning for them to follow her to the back of the big house where Chiron was to inform Argus, the camp's security guard, to start up the van while they waited for Prim to meet them there.
“Do you think she will handle this?” Percy started to worry, now that they were all getting close to the truth, Annabeth looked around the camp, everyone was continuing their day like normal, which relieved her after the chaos that morning.

She couldn’t hide it, she was worried for the girl. They don’t have much information about what’s going on but if Annabeth had learned anything from the Demigod Social Work textbook she would read for fun while Percy would take naps from studying. Is how any bit of news given directly to a demigod without confirmation or comfort will send them into a spiral.
Prim barely has any use of her powers, let alone how to control them, so the answer to Percy's question is a big no. It will have to take a lot of patience to get Prim on the right path.

~*~
She sat on the passenger side of the camp’s van, preparing herself for what was about to happen. Had she thought about this clearer she would’ve convinced Percy to not go along with this quest, but she could tell how he needed to do this. Despite everything Prim had done.

The girl sat at the back of the van's floor, knees to her chest, trying to tune out the music Argus was playing on the radio. Something told Annabeth that Prim was more of an 80s rock girl than the upbeat pop nowadays.
Or it could be just by her clothing, the biker jacket adding the extraness, considering it was what she remembered Percy and Grover had brought up as a disagreement over returning something that belonged to Prim, Annabeth was puzzled over it when she watched Percy open the safe box Chiron had under his desk and pulled out a brown paper bag to which he pushed it to Grover and told him to give it to whoever was in charge of Prim’s wardrobe. He looked at Annabeth and gave the simple facial expression of ‘I’ll tell you later’.

Though now there was no telling later, Annabeth knew that the jacket was probably the last thing Prim was wearing before getting arrested, she must’ve had something similar to a style of a mix of grunge and punk though not punk enough to compare to Thalia's aesthetic.

She tried not to think about Thalia after Will had already given the news about Prim's damage to both the huntress and Piper.
Instead, she took her mind off by studying the jacket from the back mirror. The leather was a specific type of material that she’d only seen once or maybe twice if she counted the accidental times she saw the pictures on Will Solace's true crime board of that Missing Winston case he was once obsessed with.

Now another thing she didn’t want to think about. Percy somehow knew she felt uncomfortable when she felt him reach his hand over from the small space of the back of the passenger seat to reach for her hand. She gave in and they both gave a squeeze, something to remind themselves that they were there for one another.

***
Percy:

The hand-holding was short-lasting when the van made a holt, indicating that they had arrived, Annabeth handed Nico and Hazel her book bag to put their wigs on, Prim unfortunately was struggling until Annabeth helped her.

He had to be the one to tell the girl they were there to get her memories back when she asked why they were there. It concerned Percy when Prim began to mention how she’s never been here before, maybe she just didn’t have that memory on her yet.

Percy actually had a lot of concerns over the girl's memories, he learned from watching her from afar that she knows a lot more than she could remember, muscle memory was a big one, basics yes, knowledge yes, but it’s like there's something there that doesn’t want to be out in the open. She definitely knew about the jacket, hints why she's wearing it, he remembers when Grover and Him had snuck into the storage section of the prison to get it.

He knew it was a stupid idea, technically it was his stupid idea, but judging by the lack of nerves Grover started to have searching inside the unit lockers, Percy felt the need to blame himself for what they were doing.

He thought of the idea that they should both break into the filing room to find anything Prim had before being sent to Prison, clothes she either arrived with or some kind of stuff with her name on it. Piper and Leo had already been sent down to break her door down while Lou Ellen sent out the signal to distract Officer Harf.

Percy had stayed guard watching out the door while Grover went in to search, they had debated this for a while, but only after the chaos that happened earlier when they had to bring her back into her cell after the fight in the cafeteria, he thought it would’ve just been easier if they took her at that moment, but it wasn’t worth the panic she might have reacted, even when Grover told her that they knew what kind of monsters were attacking her, but she still needed to have that delusion before they tell her.

“Percy” Grover called for him, Percy looked over to see the satyr hold up a large orange paper package, he set it on the table and then motioned for him to open it. Percy stared at the sticker label that was on the top left corner;

Evidence #3: P. Evans, 12/30/12

He took a deep breath opening it, his nose was hit with a scent of what he could only describe as ‘Clean Trouble’ part nature and fresh washing and the other being a heavy smoker with dirt and a hint of gasoline.
It was a black leather jacket, with different patches around the sleeves, the back one took him a second to look at, it was a large image of skeleton wings with a snake in the middle. The top and bottom read ‘Bedlam Vices’, Percy found it as an odd biker name but he didn’t question it much, he knew in Prim’s file it stated that she grew up in a motorcycle gang but it gave no trace to the crime from what he read. His only question was rather if she might remember this jacket if he were to give it to her.

Grover mentioned how it might be too soon and it was best to inform Chiron and Mr. D when they got back to camp.
Surely enough they weren’t any help with it, Chiron only kept it in a safe so Prim didn’t come across with it, stating that the only thing they should all focus on right now was for her to gain her memories back naturally.

And that didn’t turn out the way that was expected.

Percy started to wonder if this was going to be another Jason Grace situation when Rachel had mentioned how there was a prophecy and it involved the same scenario but in a different order. A demigod with no memories is involved with a prophecy that could either help or destroy the world, and all that’s missing is for another group of 6 demigods to get involved.
Might as well add another argo ship and call it Gaea part 2.

“Damn these stairs are a lot” he heard Prim huff out from trying to catch her breath, they’ve all made it to the top which somehow brought Percy back to reality, partly amazed he made it up without tripping.

They each made it inside, Percy had only seen pictures of the New York Public Library, he wasn’t a big fan of going to places that had books due to his dyslexia, though Annabeth had mentioned to him before that it was more of a museum than a library. He could see it now, despite the huge line of people wanting to get inside.

Annabeth was looking at the map, Nico, Hazel, and Prim had a different reaction to the sight of the building, their eyes were wide as if they were looking at many things at once coming around them. “Whoa” Nico exhaled, “this place did not look like this before,” he said, Annabeth looked up from the map, she didn’t see what they were seeing, before Percy could ask him what it was, he somehow walked away from them. Percy called out for Nico as he and Annabeth now dragged a dazed Hazel and Prim to the large stairs.

Prim flinched at the feeling of Percy pulling her arm to which he forgot that she didn’t like to be touched but it suddenly brought her back to reality seeing that they were all now following Nico down different halls that suddenly shifted into existence with several stairs and doors before finally leading them to a specific hallway with large doors. Inside looked like a boring office with cubicles everywhere with no one in them, a large front desk was in the middle with also nobody there.

“Where is everyone?” Percy asked, checking his watch to see if it was a lunch break hour, it was only 11:55 in the morning.
“What are you talking about?” Prim says pointing at the row of cubicles, “You guys don’t see these gigantic eyeballs flying around?” she shifts her head around to see more of them around her.

The four of them stare at her confused, “I don’t see anything,” Hazel admits, trying to understand why Nico had the same expression when he looked back at the hallway and then here.
“That’s because the more you visit here, the more you see everything” a voice spoke in front of them causing them to scream at the sight of what Prim said, a giant eyeball with wings.

“Uh, Hi Noa” Nico waves nervously, the eyeball rolls its eye, “Hello, Nicolo di Angelo, I see you brought friends here” The eyeball glanced over to Annabeth and Percy. “Pleased to meet Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase, I’ve heard many stories about you two.” It greets them with a smooth but cold voice.
Percy has seen strange things before, no–scratch that– he’s seen it several times, but never did he expect to see a giant eyeball that matches the same height as his half-brother Tyson, it makes him feel uncomfortable that it knows him.

He watches as Annabeth bows to the eyeball, which he follows after, “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well great glode, I believe you must know–”
“That you four are here to get your friend her memories back–yes I’m aware” The Glode then turned to look at Prim, “Welcome back, Primrose.”

Prim looked startled at the Glode, “Uh, Hi–thanks” The color of the Glodes wings faded to a shade of gray, “You don’t remember me, do you?” its voice gave a hint of sadness. Prim could feel its emotion, sharing an apologetic look, “No, I’m sorry, am I supposed to?”
“No, then again you were very young the last time you were here”
“I don’t remember”
“It’s alright?” the glode sighed then looked at the four, “You may take the stairs, pass by the Psychological myths and the History storages then take a right, and be careful with the left, you already know why,” it tells them before fading itself to light.

Hazel was about to say something but got the message they needed to hurry, Percy could see that the wigs were now losing effect.

Prim walked behind him and Annabeth while Nico and Hazel were in the front, without letting her know they’d created some type of barrier around her just in case she planned to run off. He could already tell by what the eyeball had said to her must’ve triggered Prim to feel something wrecking.

The thoughts department looked like something out of a care bear show. Clouds stormed the room with different colors of light, and in the middle was a desk with another Glode floating there. Only this one had rainbow-colored wings and floating hands typing away on a computer.

There was no handle on the door when they tried to open it, Annabeth looked around before deciding to touch it, causing her hand to go through which made her entire body fall into it, “it’s a walkthrough door” she calls out from the other side.

One by one they each went through, Percy felt like he was waking in a room with a smoke machine blasting onto his face.

He coughed a bit before looking up at the Rainbow Glode which hadn’t moved from its seat, he spoke before Annabeth could make another bow.

“Yeah, yeah I know what you four are here for” The tone of this glode was far from smooth and cold, it was bossy with a hint of Brooklyn in it. This startled them, “uh–what?” Annabeth questioned Midbow.

“This is the thoughts department, it’s obvious you came for this little bugger, hey aren’t you supposed to be dead?” it finally looked up from its screen and towards Prim who jumped back, “What?”

“Cobe!” Another glode appeared from nowhere to scoff at the other eyeball, this one had green feathers as eyelashes that matched its wings, “how many times do I have to tell you not to scare off the newcomers” Green Feather said, before looking at the five of them.

“Sorry, they can be a little stupid” it cleared its voice, “My name is Oppi how may I help you?”
“Uh, we're here to recover a memory,” Percy tells the green feather, “Certainly, Perseus Jackson, what memories would you like to get back, we have here your childhood, school lectures, dreams–” the screen of the computer enlarged to a spiral hologram of all of Percy's memories, some he didn’t even know existed.

“Oh my gods” he looked at it amazed, Annabeth nudged him to focus, “Oh, no sorry, I don’t mean me, I meant her, Prim…Evans” he pointed at Prim who wasn’t paying attention to them rather she was looking at the clouds, literally, the ones in the room.

“Ah, of course, Miss Primrose Ivory Evans, long time no see, it’s about time you grew out your hair, did you get taller? How's that arm, did it heal after—”
“Oppi, she’s here for her memories,” The rainbow Glode said, pushing the green feather aside, “Sorry, he can be a little stupid too,” they said paying attention to the situation.

Cobe gave a slight crack at their knuckles, “come closer kid” they indicated for Prim to come to them, Percy watched as Prim walked over to the glode who immediately placed their hands on her head. There were waves of white light forming around her face while her eyes closed. They all waited for Cobe to finish doing whatever they were doing, once in a while they let out a ‘hmm’ and ‘mmm’ as it tried to look through.

Their hands slowly let go of her followed by the lights fading from her face, Prim opened her eyes feeling like she was about to faint at any second. Then the unexpected happened. Oppi slapped her right in the face. Percy almost leaped and pulled out Annabeth's bone sword, but Cobe held up its hand to stop him.

“It’s just a side effect, relax,” Oppi said. “I feel fine,” Prim admits, shaking her head and blinking, “Do I have all my memories back?”
“That depends, do you remember why you were arrested?”
“No”
“Then no, you didn’t get your memories back, we actually can’t give them back to you”

“What!?” Nico and Hazel say in unison. “What do you mean you can’t?” Annabeth spoke. “Well according to the rules, we aren't allowed to give children under the age of 18 their memories back once they’re locked under our law, though your situation is a lot more different” Oppi points at Prim, “half of these memories are from our doing, but the other, is not”

“What are you talking about?”
“You're able to remember certain things up till the age of 8, right?” Both Glodes and the five looked directly at her, “I -guess, yes”
Cobe pressed a button on the keyboard, creating another hologram of a brain with different sections in another color, “Well then that's just the portion he wanted you to have before asking us to lock the other half, then there's this other piece right here” they point at the back side of the brain, “that half is what happened after the age of 8, you don’t remember any of that because something or someone, has taken that part out”

“Might have been him” Oppi mentioned
“No, it’s something more powerful, handsome, adoring–”
“Oh you mean like the many others you claim to be like that too”
“Shut up”
“No, you shut up”

“Both of you Shut the fuck up!” Prim shouts at both of them, she is in a panic, shaking in frustration. “Who is this Him? Why was I brought here when I was little? Please tell me!”

Percy wanted to tell her to calm down but it seemed like a bad idea, considering Annabeth would probably kill him for having her sword broken, the same way Prim did to Riptide.

“Well I wouldn’t say he brought you here, more like dragged you, you were I believe 6 or 7 at the time, a cute little thing with your beanie and light-up sneakers, you had a broken arm and missing both your front teeth, He said this was best for you and gave us an offer we couldn’t resist.”

“What was the price?” Prim had tears in her eyes already, the Glodes looked at each other then Cobe held out in their hand a blue bead that showed a similar resemblance to the ones on the bracelet Grover found which led them to find Prim.
Prim stepped back, trying to catch her breath at the sight of it, “Who–who gave you that?”

Oppi shrugged, “Some guy who claims to be your father.”

Chapter Text

Nico:
“What?” Prim looked startled, upset, and confused, Nico had taken the time to fully understand how the Glodes were explaining everything right before they had revealed to the girl about who was the person who brought her here in the first place.

“I mean come on, exceptionally well-groomed. Strong jaw. Ridiculous cheekbones, our kind could never forget a bone structure like that, gosh the handsomeness this man had in his aura, there's no way he’d been allowed to reproduce” Cobe gave a dramatic sigh, the kind where you feel dreamy enough to imagine. Oppi rolled their eyeball, “metaphorically we think he’s not your father, but, to be fair, you share only a gram of resemblance. This man looked like a godly figure come to life, and you look more like…well–” Oppi cleared their throat, “Something he had dragged from behind a build-a-bear without stuffing, which I guess is the same from when he brought you here and told us to wipe the frontal part of your memories”

“For the price of a blue bead? What's so valuable about that?” Hazel intervened while Prim was trying to cope, her eyes were still on the bead that Oppi had out in their hand. “Honey, this isn’t just any ordinary bead, maybe we’re not the right Glodes to tell you this but–” Cobe was cut off by Oppi shoving him on the side, “Don’t spoil the plot”

“Okay enough with the side comments just tell me straightforward, what can I do to get my memories back?” Prim ripped off the wig and sunglasses trying to get the glodes to see her. Nico kept his sword gripped, hoping they wouldn’t take offense to Prim's attitude.
“Ugh your no fun, here we were stalling you guys, but fine if you're being such a misery-gut, we do have a bending rule to outrun Maxtons contract with us, usually it’s only for those over the age of 18 but since you have 4 adults here who are over the age then they can consent for you, you’ll just have to pay the breaker fee”

“Really? You could’ve said this before” Percy grumbled, “honey this is our job, what do you think Glode stands for?” Cobe pointed at the large sign that appeared out of nowhere, the large words reading; ‘Glode: Guide to Living On Da Earth'.

“Not guiding us correctly” Nico muttered under his breath, a side of him felt relieved that Prim would be getting her memories back but the other part was urging him to ask the Glodes the answers Prim didn’t bother to ask about her father. If he had been in her situation he’d definitely would’ve asked why did he bring her here, and where was he? But this would only stall them more. However, he kept the questions to ask for later if there was any chance he could ask for them.

“Ok great, how much is the fee?” Annabeth brought up to say, “Oh we’re not asking for much, just a small chunk of her hair” Cobe held out his hand where a pair of scissors appeared. Prim staggered back terrified as she gripped the wig on her head, covering her actual hair under it. Her breathing grew heavy, shaking her head.
“Prim—” Nico stepped forward gently, voice low and careful, hands lifted. “It’s just hair. It’ll grow back. I promise.”
Cobe twisted toward him, gleeful. “Ah, but it might not be entirely ‘alright.’ Giving something up that has become so familiar to oneself—” it leaned closer to Prim as if inspecting her through some unseen lens “—is a huge sacrifice for little Evans.”

“Besides,” chimed Oppi, “We’re not asking for the whole head. Although…” It hummed. “That would make a divine wig for a night out in Manhattan.”
“Back off,” Prim snarled. “None of you are getting my hair.”
“But the bead,” the second Glode offered, suddenly perking up like it was bargaining candy with a toddler. It held up a glimmering blue bead between two tendrils of light. “We'll trade ya.”
Prim’s eyes flicked to the bead, just for a second. Her face changed—flickered—like maybe, maybe she was thinking about it.
“Prim,” Hazel said softly, stepping beside her. “You need your memories. You need them for the quest. For yourself.”
“Don’t you want answers?” Annabeth added. “This is how we get them.”
Prim didn’t look at them. Her hand tightened around the wig like a lifeline. Her breath grew shaky, her chest rising and falling like she was trying to swallow down everything inside her.

Then, with one broken exhale—she reached up and pushed the wig back, letting her real hair spill out, long, dark, tangled, very messy, and somehow soft-looking. But no one said a word. They didn’t need to. The tears running silently down her cheeks were doing the talking.
She stepped forward on shaking legs, turned her back to the floating eyes, and looked at Nico, Hazel, Percy, and Annabeth.
Each of them saw it, the raw hurt, in her face, the history she must’ve had with her hair clung like ghosts. Nico remembered how he once heard Piper mentioning the secrecy hair holds with one's inner soul, he wonders if this was what might’ve meant for Prim.

“Make it quick,” she whispered.
The Glode didn’t wait––but it was quick. A lock of Prim’s black hair fell into the Cobe’s hand, holding his possession like a trophy. Prim crumpled to the ground, hands covering her face, sobs trapped inside her throat.
“I GOT A NEW MUSTAAAAACHE!” the Glode sang, twirling the hair with glee. “Look at me! Look at me!”
Nico and Percy knelt beside her, careful not to touch. “Prim,” Nico said softly. “Are you… are you okay?”
She didn’t answer.

Hazel turned sharply toward the Glodes. “There. You have it. Now give her the memories.”
The second Glode’s voice came airy and pleasant. “Oh, we already did. You can expect the full version in three to eight business days.”
Prim slowly rose, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Her eyes were rimmed red but clear now. She didn’t speak. Just looked at the Glodes—like she was deciding if she hated them more than she hated herself.
The first Glode tossed the blue bead at her, and she caught it without thinking. “You should get going,” it said, voice suddenly chipper. “Before the guards come.”
Nico narrowed his eyes. “Guards?”
“Oh, yes,” the Oppi chirped. “We called them earlier. That's why we were stalling you guys, a safety protocol when someone looks like a threat. They should be arriving…”
The far end of the library rumbled, “…now,” it finished with a twirl.

***
Hazel:
The second the Glode said “now,” the whole library trembled like an earthquake had just woken up.
A boom thundered through the marble floors, followed by the unmistakable crack of doors being blown off their hinges.

“Run!” Nico barked, already sprinting toward the winding stairwell.
Hazel bolted after him, Prim clutched the bead in one hand like it might save her, eyes vacant. Percy and Annabeth brought up the rear, weapons drawn.
The magical side of the New York Public Library wasn’t like the mortal one—it was deeper, older, full of shifting halls and surreal geometries that defied logic. The marble stretched in long impossible sections with staircases, looping like a Mobius strip through endless rows of ghostly doors and shelves.

They didn’t even make it past the first landing before they saw him. A man stood in the path, flanked by two figures in gold-laced armor. He had a jagged, sliver spear and a glare like he’d been born angry.
“Akila,” Nico said under his breath, voice ice-cold. Hazel recognized the face, and the look on it said danger.

Akila didn’t speak. He charged.
Annabeth moved first—dagger out, eyes narrowed. Percy ducked behind her, switching grips on the bone sword, its pale blade hitting through.
Hazel drew her spatha just in time to parry a blow from a guard lunging in from the right. She twisted, shoved him back, then caught another motion from her left—Nico, moving like a shadow, blades flashing as more guards poured in from the shadows like roaches.

But there were too many of them.
Hazel swung and ducked and shoved someone off her with the force of solidified gold beneath her feet, but they were being surrounded fast.
“Go! Keep moving!” Nico shouted, slicing across a guard’s shoulder before elbowing him out of the way.
They broke through a gap and stumbled into the mortal side of the library, where none of the chaos seemed to matter. Mortals walked by, flipping pages, sipping coffee, completely unaware.
Hazel skidded to a stop near a book return desk. The noise and screaming and crashing hadn’t even registered on the humans’ faces.
Prim followed last, her legs wobbly. Hazel glanced at her, heart twisting. The girl was holding her head like it hurt—still shaking, still recovering. Her jet-black hair flowed around her like a veil, but Hazel saw it—just a small missing patch. Not visible unless you knew where to look.

But Prim could feel it, and she looked like she was about to fall apart.
“Prim!” Nico yelled, slicing the air between two guards as he backed up toward her. “We need help!”

Prim flinched, wide-eyed. “I—I don’t know how to help—”
The four of them gave her a 'really' kind of look as if they hadn't seen her fight half of the campers earlier today. Prim shakenly pulled the whip from her hip and cracked it in the air, snapping the line of guards coming near her causing It to whirl too wide and smack them all into a bookshelf. Several people looked over—but the Mist thickened again and they just blinked and went back to their magazines. “Try again!” Hazel urged.

But before Prim could, Percy shouted, “Duck!”
Hazel dropped low, dragging Prim with her as Annabeth yanked Nico to the ground. Percy had slammed his hand to the floor with both palms, teeth grit.
A tremor rippled under them—and then the tile cracked open.

Water exploded from the pipes beneath the marble like a geyser, surging up with violent force. The entire library foyer became a flash flood. People screamed, slipping and tumbling as they were swept away in the current—books, furniture, and monster guards alike all thrown into the chaos.

Annabeth surfaced, spitting water. “Seaweed brain, are you insane?!”
“Hey, at least we’re outside!” Percy coughed, sloshing to his feet.
They were. Somehow, the water had burst through the front entry, and out into the city courtyard. Mortals stood across the street with their phones, recording what probably looked like a freak plumbing incident. The magical guards had been swept away for now.

Hazel was about to yell at Percy—until the growl came. Low and deep.
Slowly they all turned.
The twin lion statues that sat at the front steps of the library—Patience and Fortitude—had moved. Their stone paws slammed down, cracking the concrete. Their mouths opened, baring jagged stone fangs.
They pounced.

“Of course,” Annabeth muttered, dripping wet and furious. “Of course, the lions come alive.” Percy and Annabeth leaped into action without hesitation, Percy swinging the bone sword like it was part of him, Annabeth twisting between the lion’s jaws with brutal efficiency.

But Hazel’s eyes locked onto something else, at Prim––who was running away.
Panic-stricken, soaking wet, eyes wild—she darted toward the street, whip dragging behind her.
“Prim—no!” Hazel ran after her, grabbing her arm.
“Let me go!” Prim cried, shoving her. “I can’t—I can’t be here—”
Hazel held firm. “You’re not running away from us!”
Prim tried again to run, pushing Hazel aside but Nico was beside them, grabbing Prim’s other arm.“No, let me go, let me go!!”

They staggered back together—Hazel, Nico, and Prim—all three off balance, falling into the shadow of a lamppost.
And then they were gone.
Vanishing with no sound. No light. Just the three of them yanked out of the chaos like a string had been pulled.

***
Rachel:
As Camp Halfblood Oracle, Rachel has had her fair share of experiencing the downfall and upbringings of prophecies given to her by the spirit of Delphi.

But so far this was silent, she sighed, opening one green eye from beneath the scarf she’d tied around her head for meditation. She exhaled through her nose, slow and steady, still cross-legged on the floor. Her little altar was set up in front of her—half incense, half clutter. A messy fusion of artistic chaos and spiritual desperation.

In the center of it all were three tarot cards. The Chariot. The Fool. The Hierophant.

They stared up at her, maddeningly calm.
Rachel scrubbed her face with both hands. “Okay,” she murmured. “One more time.”
The Spirit of Delphi was still in lockdown. No words. No riddles. No glowing eyes. And Apollo? Radio silence. So she turned to the cards.

Every time she asked about Prim’s prophecy, those three came up. Again and again. Always in the same order.
She knew The Chariot meant movement. Destiny. Sometimes war. But in this case? Rachel was sure it was Apollo. The god of the sun, prophecy, music—and lately, disappointment. Apollo had been tangled in Prim’s energy for a while now, even if wasn’t clear from the blurred dream she had a month ago, she didn’t realize it entirely but it made a lot of sense.

The Fool? A beginning. Blind optimism. Dangerous innocence. Maybe Hermes? But why would he be involved?

The Hierophant… tradition. Order. Someone bound by spiritual rules. What is it?

Rachel frowned and picked them up, shuffling them back into the deck with a whisper of worn cardstock. She cleared her mind and tried again. This time, she didn’t even ask the question aloud. Just thought about it.
What’s going to happen next on Prim’s quest?

She reached to cut the deck, but the cards answered first.
Seven cards exploded from the stack, fluttering out like birds startled from the brush.
Rachel cursed under her breath and leaned in. Three of them drew her attention instantly.
The Lovers.
The Knight of Wands.
The Page of Cups—reversed.

She blinked. “Wait… what?”
The Lovers card almost always meant Nico. His energy practically haunted that card when she was dealing with anything related to him even when she first pulled it out that one time she gave him a reading. It hummed with that deep emotional intensity she’d come to associate with him—connection, choice, pain, love.
Hazel was the Knight of Wands. Passionate. Bold. Fire buried in gold. She could practically see the shadows flaring around her, trying to keep up with her charge.
But… they weren’t on this quest. It had been cleared that they weren’t supposed to be, it was Percy and Annabeth.

Her eyes narrowed at the third card. Page of Cups—reversed.
That one hurt. It's Prim, undoubtedly. A reversed Page meant insecurity. Emotional immaturity. A sensitive heart recoiling from pain. All the trauma, all the fear, bubbling just beneath her surface.

She looked at the rest;
The Sun.
The Knight of Pentacles.
The Ace of Wands.
The Chariot—again?

She slouched back, spine straightening gone. The Sun. Radiance. Joy. Triumph. But only when earned. The Knight of Pentacles. Someone grounded in hard work. Productivity. The Ace of Wands. A beginning of power. New magic. Sparked by risk.

Rachel stared at the spread. It was shifting. Rewriting itself.
She got up from the floor and went to her minifridge, taking a can of Arizona iced tea out and opening the tab, before she could even take a sip, a mist shimmered beside her. A golden streak burst into the air, and an Iris Message flared to life—hazy and shimmering. Percy’s face popped up first, drenched and disheveled. Annabeth appeared behind him, looking like she’d seen better weeks.

Rachel lowered her can. “You two look like you lost a fight to a water fountain.”
“We did,” Annabeth deadpanned. “Have Nico and Hazel brought Prim back to camp yet?”
Rachel blinked. “What? No. I haven’t seen them since they left for the city with you guys. What happened?”
Percy scrubbed his face. “We got half of her memories back. Not all of them. And—uh—we might’ve let the Glodes traumatize her in exchange.”
Rachel squinted. “You what—?”
“We didn’t mean to traumatize her!” Annabeth quickly added. “We didn’t know how attached she was to her hair until—” She made a helpless gesture. “It was the only way to make the Glodes cooperate.”
Rachel opened her mouth, questions stacked behind her teeth—but Percy kept going.
“After that, we kind of got held up by some guards, and then Prim panicked. Tried to run. Nico and Hazel chased after her, and the next thing we knew—boom. Gone. Shadows. We thought maybe they brought her back to camp?”
A chill rolled through Rachel’s spine. Gone. Prim. Nico. Hazel.
Together.

The Lovers. The Knight. The reversed Page of cups. Oh no.

Rachel’s gaze whipped back to the cards. She went over and dropped to the floor fast, the iced tea forgotten on top of the mini-fridge.
“Rachel?” Annabeth asked. “What’s wrong?”
Rachel didn’t answer at first. She looked over at the deck, slowly placing the cards in a line.

The Lovers.
The Knight of Wands.
The Page of Cups --reversed.
The Chariot, The Knight of Pentacles, The Ace of Wands, and The Sun.

Her fingers hovered over the last one. Her chest squeezed tight. She looked back at the Iris Message, face drained of color.
“Prim’s quest already started,” she said. “But she didn’t start it with you two.”
Percy blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Rachel took a breath, heart pounding. “The quest restarted itself. The moment she shadow-traveled with Nico and Hazel… the cards reset. They're the team now.”
Annabeth paled. “You’re saying the quest… chose them?”
“No,” Rachel said softly. “Prim did.”
And deep in her gut, she knew that nothing about the road ahead would follow Olympus’s rules anymore.

Chapter Text

Nico:
The shadow travel felt like sleepwalking through fog or floating on some dreamlike current, it was different and not something Nico usually experiences there wasn’t that near-death jump that happens in the aftershock, instead, this was violent.
Like being yanked inside out and shoved through cold cement. Nico couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t even scream. Everything twisted, compressed, and convulsed in on itself—until suddenly, there was that one-time feeling he had experienced a long time ago, air, then light, and sky.
He was falling.

Correction: They were falling.

Nico was grabbing Hazel’s hand in one and Prim’s in the other until he wasn’t. The moment the three of them realized they were plummeting from the sky, Prim screamed. Her hands slipped free from both of them. Hazel shouted something Nico couldn’t make out. Then he cursed loudly when a force of wind separated the three of them apart even further.
The impact of Nico’s landing drove the air out of his lungs and buried him in a mess of cardboard, spoiled food, and something slimy that definitely wasn’t marinara sauce—but probably used to be. For a moment, he just lay there, limbs tangled in a garbage bag, stunned and blinking at the sudden sunlight slicing through the alley.
Then a car alarm started blaring.

The sound went on like a drill in his skull. Nico groaned and shoved a milk carton off his shoulder. His ribs throbbed, and he was positive something in his shoulder cracked. He pushed himself up slowly, sticky with whatever horror he’d landed in.
“Hazel?! Prim?!” he called out, voice hoarse.
No response. Just the dam car alarm.

He was halfway out of the dumpster, one boot slipping on a banana peel cliché of all things, when he heard Hazel’s voice.
“Nico?!” she called. “I—I’m stuck in a bush! My hair’s caught—ugh—Ow!”
Nico stubbled out of the dumpster with as much dignity as a ghost king coated in trash could manage. “Hang on!” he shouted back.

Following her voice, he found Hazel caught in a thorny bush that looked like it had tried to swallow her whole. She’d landed hard—scratches ran up her arms and her hair was tangled in the branches. Nico reached in, ignoring the thorns that bit into his hands. “Hold still.”
“Easy for you to say,” Hazel muttered, flinching. “You smell like rancid lasagna.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, well. Now I know how Apollo felt.”

A few painful yanks later, she was free—limping, scratched, and visibly annoyed. That’s when both of them turned toward the source of the blaring alarm.
The white SUV looked like something had dropped straight out of the sky onto it. Which it had.

Prim.

She lay on the crumpled roof, arms sprawled, staring up at the sky like she wasn’t entirely sure she’d survived.
“Oh gods,” Hazel muttered, rushing ahead. “Prim!”
They reached her just as she tried to sit up. Her face was pale, her breathing ragged.
“I thought I died,” she whispered, voice breaking. Then the tears came—fast and quiet like she didn’t want to cry but couldn’t stop.
Nico felt a spike of guilt, sharp and unwelcome. He glanced at Hazel, who looked equally wrecked. But neither of them moved to comfort Prim. Not yet. Because… as much as they hated to admit it, half of this was her fault.

They’d been trying to keep her from running—trying to hold her steady—right after that disaster at the New York Public Library. One second, the three of them were gripping each other, trying not to fall apart in the middle of the sidewalk. The next, they were falling, thrown into the air by a shadow portal Nico nor Hazel had summoned.
He looked down. Prim's left side was bleeding, but the cuts were already knitting themselves shut. Nico and Hazel tried not to question how Prim was capable of doing that, at least not now, mostly. She still looked to be in pain, not just physically.

“Where… are we?” Hazel asked, turning to scan their surroundings.
Nico did the same, they were behind a strip mall. Dumpsters. Broken pavement. A faded red-and-white sign a few yards away read: Nonna’s Authentic Italian Bakery.
That explained the smell of marinara sauce and regret.

Prim stirred at the question, wiping her face. “It’s Morristown,” she muttered. “We’re in Morristown, New Jersey.”
Hazel shot Nico a look. “Why would you think of this place?”
“I didn’t,” Nico said, already feeling defensive. “I don’t know how this happened. The shadow travel just—triggered. I didn’t call for it.”
They both started to bicker—quietly but tense. Until Prim moved, taking one step back from getting out of the car, she wobbled a little, grabbing the side mirror for balance.
Nico clocked it instantly.

Hazel did too. She grabbed Prim’s arm roughly—maybe a little too roughly—and Prim flinched, recoiling like she’d been struck.
“Don’t even think about running,” Hazel said. Her voice was flat. Cold. “You try anything like that again, and we’re tying you to a streetlamp.”
Nico narrowed his eyes. “From now on, we’re watching you like a hawk.”

Prim mumbled something under her breath neither of them could make out. Her eyes shifted toward the road—and then widened. She bolted.
Nico and Hazel followed instantly, though it turned out she wasn’t running away, she was just running toward her duffel bag, lying across the street like some holy grail.
She dropped to her knees and unzipped it with frantic fingers.

Nico hovered behind her, peering in and seeing cans of Dr. Pepper. He blinked. “Really?” he muttered.

Prim didn’t answer, just let out a long sigh of relief like she’d found medicine. Hazel leaned against the light post, clutching her scratched arm.
“We need to get cleaned up,” Nico said. “There’s a gas station just over there. Then we'll send an Iris message to Percy and Annabeth.”
He patted his jacket. Then his pants. Then groaned, “Styx, no drachmas.”
Hazel shook her head. “I don’t have any either.”
They both turned to Prim, who dug around in her bag—then shook her head.

“Great,” Nico muttered, remembering that of course Annabeth would’ve had the money bag for this quest. She’s the responsible one.
Hazel sighed. “We’ll worry about that later. Let’s just get cleaned up.”

They walked into the gas station like survivors of some ridiculous war—limping, dirty, bleeding.
Before they entered, Nico looked at Prim. “Keep your head down. Don’t look up at the security cameras. Got it?”
She nodded without argument, already lowering her head, letting her long hair curtain her face.

Hazel slipped into the single bathroom first. Nico leaned against a rack of discounted snacks, keeping an eye on Prim as she drifted toward the slushy machine. She stared at it like it had personally betrayed her, body tense like she was physically restraining herself. Then her gaze drifted around again.
To the wall of posters near the front of missing persons. Mugshots. A collage of faces lost to time and tragedy.
Nico saw her expression change. Her whole posture—shrank.

He followed her line of sight. And there it was, her wanted poster. Right by the door.
She stared at it like it had slapped her. Her shoulders began to curl inward. The panic was rising.

Nico didn’t hesitate. He walked over to the sunglasses rack, snatched the darkest pair he could find, and gently slipped them onto her face.
The cashier looked up from her magazine. “Hey! You gotta pay for those.”
“I will,” Nico said. His voice had that tone that suggested he’d rather not be challenged.
The cashier didn’t challenge him.

***
Hazel:
Hazel leaned over the cracked sink in the gas station bathroom, dabbing at the scratches on her arm with rough brown paper towels. The thorn bush hadn’t been kind. Bits of gravel and leaves clung to her jeans, and there was dirt under her nails. The fluorescent light flickered above her, casting shadows over the bruises starting to form.
She sighed. A mess, top to bottom. But at least her arm had stopped bleeding.

Hazel stepped out of the bathroom and nodded at Nico. “Your turn.”
He gave a tired grunt and headed past her. She paused, eyes flicking to Prim, who now stood stiffly by the sunglasses rack. Oversized shades covered half her face, and Hazel immediately understood why. The cashier, a middle-aged woman with bright red lipstick and a ponytail, was watching Prim like she expected her to shoplift something.
Hazel was about to say something when the TV behind the counter cut to a breaking news alert.

A sharp-looking reporter appeared on the screen with the bold headline:
PUBLIC LIBRARY PIPE EXPLOSION IN NYC — TERRORISM POSSIBLE.
Hazel’s stomach dropped. ‘Seriously?’ She thought.

“We’re learning more about the chaotic explosion that rocked the New York Public Library this afternoon. Witnesses claim the person seen moments before the blast matches the description of Primrose Evans, the escaped fugitive who fled Chicago Federal Prison two weeks ago. Authorities are now speculating her involvement in a string of incidents linked to suspected terrorist activity—”

Hazel’s head snapped to Nico who hadn’t closed the bathroom door yet, then looked at and Prim.
Both were tense. Nico’s expression was unreadable—tight-jawed, shoulders stiff. Prim, meanwhile, looked frozen. Hazel could see the tears she was trying not to cry.
The cashier squinted at them. Then to the TV now showing a picture of Prim's mugshot. Then back at Prim.

“Wait a second,” she said slowly. “That tall girl… is she the criminal?”
Nico turned to her, expression deadpan. “Wow, okay. Not every brown girl in sunglasses is a threat.”
Hazel jumped in quickly. “She just looks like her. Everyone says she also looks like Priyanka Chopra.” Hazel forced a sweet smile, reaching just enough with the Mist to nudge the woman’s perception. “She’s not the criminal. Trust me.”

The cashier blinked. “Huh. Yeah. Guess not.” She turned back to her magazine.
Hazel exhaled. Just a little too early.

While Nico shut the door to the bathroom, Hazel wandered to a nearby snack shelf, mentally calculating how much she could buy with illusion-conjured currency before they got caught. A bottle of water, some granola bars, maybe candy for Prim to cheer her up—just something to keep them moving while they planned a route back to Camp Half-Blood.
Then she felt a tap on her shoulder––The injured shoulder.
She flinched hard and turned, ready to snap—only to see Prim standing behind her, with the sunglasses pushed down just a bit to show her wide eyes. She didn’t speak. Just pointed out the window.

Across the street, a cluster of police cars had formed around the flattened SUV. Flashing lights. Cops talking into radios. More arriving by the second.
“Dam it,” Hazel muttered.
She ran to the bathroom and banged on the door. “Nico, hurry up! We’ve got a problem!”
The door creaked open just as the store’s bell chimed, and three police officers entered. Prim stiffened.

The cashier looked up and then back at her magazine. Hazel’s blood went cold.
One of the officers approached. A tall man with a badge that gleamed just a little too much under the flickering lights. He looked at Prim then at Hazel.
“Miss,” he said, voice too calm. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the… condition of the white SUV outside?”
Prim didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her breath hitched, eyes darting around like a caged animal. Hazel stepped in fast.

“No sir, we don’t know anything. None of us do,” Hazel said, smiling again, but there was an edge now. A crackle of nerves.
The officer’s gaze shifted. “That’s quite a bandage on your arm.”
Hazel swallowed.

“And she’s got… what is that, glass in her hair?” he added, pointing at Prim. Then reaching over to touch it. Prim instinctively backed up but it was too late, the officer had plucked out a small shard of glass from her hair, he looked at it carefully seeing that there was a faint smudge of blood on it.
There was a hungry look on the officer's face when he saw Prim’s blood on the glass, he quickly brought it up to his nose and sniffed it, eyes widening with a range of energy as his eyes shifted into another form other than human, with his voice deepening “It’s her!”
Nico stepped out of the bathroom just in time to hear that.

Hazel didn’t wait. She grabbed Nico by the arm, grabbed Prim by the sleeve, and hissed, “Run.”
They bolted.

The door slammed open behind them as they burst into the parking lot. The officers—no, longer policemen but rather, shifting into whatever blue lizard-like things, the second the first officer ran behind them shouting that to grab Prim, had now followed after them with unnatural speed. One lunged at Hazel, snarling in a voice that distorted mid-syllable.
“Get the girl!”

“Monster!” Nico barked. He shoved Hazel behind him and drew his sword in a smooth motion, shadows curling around his fingers.
Another one was already trying to grab Prim. She screamed—then punched them, hard. It recoiled, hissing in a voice like metal on metal.
“Go! Get her clear!” Nico yelled, slashing at the creature. It dodged unnaturally, bones cracking and bending backward.
Hazel turned, drawing her blade, and caught another one lunging toward her. The illusion of a police uniform melted off it as it attacked, revealing its strange mottled skin and too many teeth.
“We’re surrounded!” she shouted.

“Where’s Prim!?” Nico called out, still fighting.
Hazel’s head whipped around—hearing a scream of effort, followed by a crunch of metal.
Across the lot, Prim had tackled one of the monsters, grabbed its head, and smashed it into the window of the nearest police van. She ripped the door open looking at Hazel and Nico, “Get in—NOW!”

Nico didn’t hesitate. He sprinted for the van.
Hazel, still stabbing at a second demon, gave it one final kick and ran after him. She dove into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut.
Nico yanked Prim in and slid the side door shut just as a claw raked across it. Hazel didn’t wait, she threw the van into reverse, floored it, and rammed through two of the monsters, sending them flying over the hood. She twisted the wheel, shoved the gear into drive, and hit the road.

The tires squealed.
They shot down the street like a rocket.
Hazel panted, knuckles white on the wheel. Behind them—screeches. Howls. And the sight of two more police cars pulling into traffic behind them.
“We’re being followed!” Nico said.
“Tell me something I don’t know!” Hazel yelled.

Prim, still in the back, was trying to hold it together. Her fingers clenched her duffle bag like it was a lifeline.
Nico looked over his shoulder. “Whatever those things are—they’re not Greek monsters. And they’re not going to stop.”
Hazel’s eyes narrowed. “Then we don’t stop either.” As the van jolted over a pothole, tires screeching when she careened around another corner, nearly hitting a mailbox. “I don’t know where I’m going!” she yelled. “I’m just trying to lose them!”

In the rearview mirror, flashing lights followed—at least four more police cruisers, sirens howling behind them, weaving through traffic like wolves hunting prey. Except these weren’t cops.
Hazel could feel the monstrous energy pulsing off them. Whatever these things were, they weren’t interested in arresting them. They wanted blood or in this case––Prim's blood.
Nico was in the passenger seat, bracing himself against the dash. “You need to hit the highway! They’re still on us.”
Hazel swerved to avoid a garbage truck. “I hate the highway!”
“Well, you hate getting eaten alive more, right?!”

Another screech of tires. Hazel yanked the wheel hard, sending the van fishtailing around the roundabout exit. In the back, Prim gave a loud thump followed by a groan as she rolled across the empty metal floor and did a full, painful-looking flip. Her duffel bag flew sideways and whacked her in the face.
“Sorry!” Hazel called over her shoulder. “Not doing great back there, huh?”
Prim didn’t answer. She just groaned again, curled up like a pretzel.

Hazel merged recklessly onto the interstate ramp, the whole van rattling like it might fall apart. “Okay. Highway. This better work!”
It didn’t.
Two of the monster-driven police cruisers followed them onto the highway as they’d expected it. The third peeled off onto a frontage road—probably to cut them off.
Hazel swore under her breath. “New plan! We need a new plan!”
“I’m trying to think!” Nico snapped. “If only we had—I don’t know—paint bombs or fireworks or anything to throw at them off!”
From the back of the van came a sharp gasp. Both Hazel and Nico turned slightly.

Prim, face flushed and sweaty, pushed herself upright. “Wait. Wait, I have something!”
Nico twisted in his seat. “Prim, what the Hades are you—don’t open the door—Prim!”
Too late.

The back doors of the van swung wide open, catching wind and nearly yanking off their hinges. The roaring highway wind blasted through the cabin. Prim, gripping one of the upper handles for balance, grabbed a can of Dr Pepper from her duffel, shaking it like her life depended on it.
Hazel caught a glimpse in the rearview just in time to see Prim—wobbling, eyes half-crazed from adrenaline and pain—hurl the soda can like a grenade.
The can arced through the air… slammed against the windshield of the first chasing cruiser… and exploded in a fizzy brown burst.

The car swerved violently, sticky soda covering the windshield. The creature driving it let out a frustrated screech, wipers going wild, and slammed into the median.
Hazel gawked. “Did she just—?”

Nico was halfway standing in the passenger seat now, staring. “You need to see this. Hazel, seriously—look!”
“I’m DRIVING!” she snapped—but she did glance up at the mirror.
Another can soar then another. BOOM!
The second police car was nailed in the grill. A geyser of soda erupted across its hood. The monster behind the wheel snarled and slammed the brakes as the engine hissed in protest, sputtering and smoking.
Hazel shouted involuntarily. “Prim, you mad genius!”

Prim grunted, throwing another one. “Gotta thank the Dionysus kids for teaching me that.”
The third car—already trailing—slowed, its driver now hesitating.
Prim threw one final can, bouncing it along the road like a rolling bomb. It exploded under the third car’s front tires. The entire cruiser spun out, did a 180, and slammed into the guardrail.
Just like that—gone.

Hazel’s heart was still in her throat, but the sirens were fading behind them. The road ahead was clear. Quiet.
Nico slumped back in the seat with a breathless laugh. “Well… that worked.”
Hazel loosened her death grip on the wheel, letting her shoulders relax for the first time in what felt like hours. Her hands were sweaty. Her head was pounding.
“Okay,” she muttered. “Okay. We’re good. I think we’re good.”

Prim collapsed backward with a tired sigh, closing both doors back, she sprawled on the floor of the van like a discarded ragdoll, her hair now sticky with soda.
Hazel checked the rearview again—no flashing lights.
Just trees. Asphalt. Open road.

She let out a breath. “Alright. Where are we now?”
Nico squinted out the windshield at the unfamiliar signs flying by. “Definitely not Morristown anymore. Maybe… western Jersey? Or Pennsylvania?”
Hazel frowned. “Great. We escaped monsters, committed a dozen traffic violations, and now we’re lost.”
Nico glanced back at Prim. “Could be worse.”
Prim raised a weak arm. “I still have two cans left.”

Hazel chuckled, shaky and low. Then she signaled right and pulled into the exit lane.
“Let’s find somewhere quiet,” she said. “We need to regroup–again, and maybe be hosed down with a fire hydrant.”